Glam rock star Gary Glitter has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of abusing three young girls in the latest child sex scandal to bring down a former icon of Britain's entertainment world.

Glitter, 70, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was convicted of one count of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

"You did all of them real and lasting damage and you did so for no other reason than to obtain sexual gratification for yourself of a wholly improper kind," judge Alistair McCreath told the singer.

Glitter was at the height of his fame as a musician when he attacked his victims, and investigators said he targeted young girls who were in awe of him.

Prosecutor John Price had earlier in the trial described how a drunken Gadd had tried to force himself on a girl, who was aged under 10 at the time, in the 1970s.

The victim only came forward 20 years after the incident when she saw that Gadd had admitted in 1999 to child pornography charges.

He also attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them to his dressing room without their mothers.

One victim, now in her 50s, told the court how Glitter, smelling of "booze and cigarettes", had put his arm over her, making her feel "uncomfortable".

The singer was first jailed in 1999 when he admitted possessing 4,000 images of child pornography.

He was deported from Cambodia in 2002 over unspecified claims and convicted in Vietnam in 2006 of sexually abusing two girls, for which he was sentenced to three years in jail.

On returning to Britain, Glitter was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Glitter is the latest in a series of high profile people in Britain to be convicted of historical sex abuse.