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Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning admits 21 counts of child sex abuse

Southwark Crown Court heard Denning abused one victim at Jimmy Savile’s house

Monday 22 August 2016 12:10 BST
Ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning has pleaded guilty to 21 historical child sex offences
Ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning has pleaded guilty to 21 historical child sex offences (PA )

Disgraced Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning has pleaded guilty to 21 historical child sex offences as part of a police investigation into a youth disco.

The prolific paedophile, 75, admitted abusing 11 children, some as young as eight, between 1969 and 1986.

He pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in London to 21 sexual offences, including indecent assault of men and boys and inciting boys under 16 and 14 to commit acts of gross indecency.

The offences relate to an investigation by Surrey Police, named Operation Ravine, into alleged sexual offences connected to the Walton Hop Disco, a teenage disco which ran from 1958 until 2001.

In court Denning denied three counts of indecent assault, but the charges were ordered to remain on his file.

He will be sentenced on 6 October, but is already in jail serving a 13-year sentence for sexual assaults on 24 different victims carried out between the 1960s and 1980s.

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay said Denning had a “very long record of offences against young boys”.

He added: “Given the very long indictment he has pleaded guilty to, we take the view that these counts would not make a difference to (his) sentence.”

Denning was a friend of Jimmy Savile’s, and the court heard he had abused one of his victims at Savile’s home, using “the allure of the record industry and celebrity” to attract his young victims, The Sun reports.

His career ended after he was first convicted of sex offences in 1974.

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