06 October 2023 , 09:10
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Notorious paedophile Chris Denning has died in prison at the age of 81, it has been announced today. The former Radio 1 DJ was serving two 13-year prison sentences after using his fame to groom and sexually assault dozens of underage boys - some as young as eight - who thought of him as a 'father figure', between the 1950s and 2000s.
Twisted Denning was found guilty of luring young boys into his house and plying them with records, alcohol and cigarettes. He showed them pornography before forcing them to perform sex acts on him and photographed them naked. He introduced some of his victims to other celebrities, including fellow paedophile Gary Glitter, and sexually assaulted one boy at Jimmy Savile's house.
The prolific paedophile used his fame to groom and sexually assault dozens of young victims (Central News)Denning died from diabetes in June last year, and the news has only just been disclosed in a prison watchdog report into his care in prison. He was being held at HMP Bedford at the time of his death. Denning was jailed for 13 years in 2014 after admitting abusing 24 boys. The court heard he had taken some victims to Top of the Pops recordings and introduced them to Savile.
He was then handed a concurrent 13-year term in October 2016, after he offered a 'very well-known Radio 1 DJ' a boy for sex at his bungalow in the early 1980s. The victim was just seven years old when he first met Denning at his shop and came to see him as a 'father figure'. The BBC star then began to sexually abuse the boy in a bedroom above the shop between 1980-1984, telling him it was 'their secret'. In 2016, Judge Alistair McCreath said the impact on the victims, now grown men, has been 'devastating'.
The judge described the offences as 'utterly depraved', and added: "It is not to be forgotten that all of this suffering was inflicted by you for nothing other than your own selfish pleasure." He told the defendant: "You groomed all of these boys. They were for the most part in their early teens, although some were younger. You used your own fame, your acquaintance with others who were famous, your familiarity with the music industry... to win their trust and misplaced admiration."
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Denning was already a convicted sex offender in Europe before he found fame in the UK in the 1960s. He was one of the founding DJs on BBC Radio 1 and was the first voice ever to speak on BBC2. In 1959, he was prosecuted in Germany for circulating pornographic images and in the late 1990s, he was accused of running a paedophile ring in Prague.
He was one of a gang of men, including former DJ Jonathan King, who targeted youngsters at 1970s disco the Walton Hop in Walton-Upon-Thames, Surrey. In 2001, it was announced that police were seeking to extradite Denning from the Czech Republic to question him under Operation Arundel - the investigation into paedophile offences linked to the Walton Hop.
In July 2021, Denning was suffering from Parkinson's Disease, diabetes, a heart abnormality, high blood pressure, glaucoma and bed sores. He decided in January 2022 that he did not wish to be resuscitated if his heart or breathing stopped. He died at Bedford Hospital on June 24, 2022, from a bone infection caused by diabetes.