Fallen British pop star Gary Glitter was on Friday sentenced to 16 years in prison for indecently assaulting three girls. It was his second conviction in less than a decade, having been sentenced to four years in prison in 2006 for committing obscene acts with two minors.

According to a report by Reuters, Gary Glitter, 70, whose real name is Paul Gadd, rose to fame in the 1970s as a “glam-rock” star but was later convicted of child sex crimes. The report said that Glitter’s reputation was destroyed after he served two months in jail in 1999 for possession of child pornography, the first of several convictions.

“Earlier this month, he was found guilty in a London court of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one of having sex with a girl under the age of 13, all in the 1970s,” the report said.

“Sentencing Glitter on Friday, Judge Alistair McCreath said the star had abused his fame and caused deep harm to his victims. It is difficult to overstate the depravity of this dreadful behaviour,” the report added.

Glitter was the first person to be arrested as part of a wider police investigation into accusations of historical sex offences by show business personalities triggered by revelations that the late BBC television presenter Jimmy Savile had been a prolific sex offender for decades.

The broader investigation, codenamed Operation Yewtree, has led to the conviction of several former high-profile figures including veteran Australian entertainer Rolf Harris and the country's best-known showbiz publicist, Max Clifford.

After his conviction in 1999, Gadd, who had denied the latest charges, had moved to Cambodia, but was deported in 2002 due to suspected sex offences. In 2006, a Vietnamese court convicted him of committing obscene acts with two girls aged 10 and 11 and sentenced him to four years in jail. On his release he returned to Britain.

•Photo shows fallen pop star Gary Glitter.