The convicted paedophile was released half-way through his 16-year sentence last month
Glam rock paedophile Gary Glitter has been filmed using a smartphone and enquiring about the dark web.
The footage, filmed by a fellow lag at his bail hostel in the South of England, shows the 78-year-old quizzing an unknown person about search engines.
In the video, obtained by The Sun on Sunday, Glitter – real name Paul Gadd – asks: “Shall I get rid of this Duck Duck?”
It is thought that he is referring to DuckDuckGo, a search engine which claims to protect users’ privacy.
The unknown friend replies: “Yeah, I wouldn’t bother using that if I were you.”
Glitter then says: “So what do I do next, then? Let’s try and find this Onion. One step at a time.”
The dark web is only accessible through a series of encrypted Tor networks, with many having a .onion URL.
The dark web itself – a lawless sub level of the internet – is also often compared to an onion, made up of layer upon layer of illegal, sexually explicit and violent content, sometimes involving young children.
Another source at his bail hostel also revealed he has a ‘girlfriend’ in Cuba, and has been asking for advice about how to call her on WhatsApp.
Last month Glitter was released from HMP Verne in Portland, Dorset, half-way through a 16 year sentence for the historic sexual abuse of three girls. As part of the conditions of his release he will spend three months at the undisclosed suburban bail hostel.
Glitter, who wears a GPS tag has a nightly curfew and is barred from going near schools, playgrounds or swimming pools as part of his license conditions. His phone – which freed prisoners are allowed so they can reintegrate back in to society – can be monitored remotely.
Speaking to The Sun, Former Det Supt Michael Hames, who set up the Met Police’s Paedophile Unit, said: “This is extremely disturbing and shows that he’s attempting to access material he should not be accessing.
“People use the Dark Web for nefarious purposes. Why else would you want to be on there? Onion is a slang phrase for Dark Web.”
Glitter attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room, and isolating them from their mothers. His third victim was less than 10 years old when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975.
The allegations only came to light nearly 40 years later when Glitter became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree – the investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
The court heard there was no evidence Glitter had atoned for his actions after he was found guilty of one count of attempted rape, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and four counts of indecent assault.
He later lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his conviction.
Glitter’s fall from grace occurred years earlier after he admitted possessing 4,000 child pornography images and was jailed for four months in 1999.
In 2002, he was expelled from Cambodia amid reports of sex crime allegations, and in March 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam and spent two-and-a-half years in jail.
Mirror.co.uk have reached out to the Met Police and the Probation Service for comment.
