19 March 2023 , 17:43
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Disgraced pop star Gary Glitter was given a £15k knee operation on the NHS while serving his prison sentence, it's been revealed.
The perverted former musician is understood to have been treated at Dorset County Hospital in November last year, despite hundreds of patients currently on waiting lists for surgery.
The 78-year-old was reportedly restrained to his bed by security staff as he underwent the knee replacement operation in the midst of his 16-year sentence for the sexual abuse of three girls.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, spent five nights at the hospital, The Sun reports, which was 14 miles from The Verne prison where he had been at His Majesty's pleasure.
Staff at the hospital were reportedly told not to give away any personal information about themselves to Glitter (Google Maps)The news comes after the convicted paedophile was released halfway into his sentence last month, before being remanded back behind bars last week over a clip showing him using a smartphone at his bail hostel as he talked about using the dark web.
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His case will now be referred back to the parole board.
"Glitter seemed to come straight in and had a room waiting for him," a source said of his recent hospital stay.
"It was all arranged in advance, although we didn’t know how long he had waited for the op in prison."
The source added Glitter "seemed to revel in the attention".
Glitter has been recalled to prison after a breach of his licence conditions (PA)
A source told The Sun former star Glitter spent five nights in a hospital in Dorset in November (WireImage)"While he was there, Glitter was very chatty and cheerful — and over-friendly. He asked quite a lot of questions about the staff, especially the younger female ones.
"He took a shine to one young, female nurse who was quite attractive and it made her feel sick. He also spoke quite a lot about going abroad, and said what a great time he had in Cambodia and Vietnam.
"There was no shred of remorse about what he had done."
According to the source, NHS staff treating Glitter were told to remove their surnames from badges and avoid giving away personal details, but were informed not to treat him any differently to other patients.
While the knee replacement may have cost the NHS up to £15k, the real public sum may have been even more when factoring in Glitter's security costs.
Meanwhile, recent NHS data reveals 185 people waited more than the Government's target of 18 weeks for the same operation following a doctor's referral.
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A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital told the Sun: "We are the NHS hospital healthcare provider for the local prisons and his care was handled according to our usual procedures for prisoners requiring treatment."
The Ministry of Justice said it does not comment on individual prisoners.
The Mirror has contacted Dorset County Hospital for a comment.