We all have our ideas about who may be next in line to get their collar felt by Operation Yewtree, perhaps even having workplace sweepstakes on it. Fred Talbot is yet another one of the disappointing cases, as it is someone that held a great deal of public affection which he might be about to lose. Rolf Harris was in the same situation that nobody really wanted him to be found guilty simply because of whom he was; we could have stood the loss of Jim Davidson or Freddie Starr but the removal of the wobble board from the world of music was actually quite sad. Nobody has been brave enough to introduce it into their act yet and probably never will, as Harris has been airbrushed out of pop culture history as happens when public disgrace occurs.

The issue of removing all evidence after a conviction of this nature is a strange and delicate one as we don’t seem able to separate the artist from the art. For example, the song ‘Two Little Boys’ is an old Music Hall standard written about the American Civil War and originally  made famous by Harry Lauder, and of course there are punk versions by Splodgenessabounds and John Otway to enjoy, but as the song is heavily associated with Rolf Harris you don’t hear it any more. One of the most obvious cases of this came to my attention while watching The Full Monty a couple of weeks ago; the soundtrack features two songs, albeit only snippets but enough for the viewer to recognise them, by Gary Glitter – ‘Rock and Roll, Part 2’ and ‘I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)’. Watching the film makes no difference to Glitter’s finances, especially as we bought the DVD second hand. The film was made before his initial arrest for possession of indecent images and therefore at the time the music was still popular, yet it felt a little bit uncomfortable listening to it in a mainstream film (although perhaps less uncomfortable given that it was a grownup film, imagine if Spiceworld had been released and made loads of money before Glitter’s arrest). Gary Glitter was indeed still a fairly big draw and he took advantage of this with a lucrative annual tour, usually around Christmas. Now we know that his box office wasn’t the only thing he took advantage of, if you know what I mean, his songs are rarely heard, if at all, and rightly so. BBC4 drew complaints for not editing Glitter from an episode of Top of the Pops (the ‘real time’ broadcast of which has been blighted by the need to keep scrapping episodes featuring sex offenders), the same episode was presented by Jimmy Savile who had just died and was still in the tributes-to-a-legend stage. I tweeted at the time speculating on what might have taken place in the dressing rooms and was replied to by over one hundred people telling me to show some respect for the dead. A charitable saint in the public eye in life and a vile sex case in death, it’s as if he managed to do a ‘reverse Jacko’. The only other time you’ll hear Gary Glitter is on those increasingly rare occasions when a pub or shop hasn’t bothered buying a new Christmas CD for ages; I heard ‘Another Rock and Roll Christmas’ a few years ago in the now defunct (although I’m not saying that’s the reason) toy shop Hawkins Bazaar a few years back.

Gary Glitter (or rather, Paul Gadd), is currently on trial for alleged sexual assaults dating back to his pop star heyday of the 1970s, having pleaded not guilty to the charges put before him. We the public are not the jury in this case (apart from twelve of us the public but they won’t be allowed to read this) and I’m not sure how I would be able to conduct myself if I was. The fact that Gadd is in the dock could prejudice the jury seeing as they know his form. Juries are not told of previous convictions and are ordered to judge the case based purely on the evidence they hear in the courtroom, and are also told not to conduct any independent research by checking the defendant on Facebook for example or Googling them. This is a difficult thing to ask of a jury when the defendant is on trial for one of the worst things to be accused of and you already know what he is capable of. The CPS will no doubt want another notch on their belt to add to the tally so far; Stuart Hall, Rolf Harris, and Max Clifford, and are paranoid now because the public know that Jimmy Savile’s friends in the police, Government and Royal Family kept him out of trouble and don’t want to be seen to let another one through the net.

On the other hand, Gadd must be aware of public opinion. He knows that we know he is a notorious paedophile and that this could possibly go against him in a trial by jury. Pleading not guilty in this case might, and I emphasise the word might, actually mean that he isn’t guilty. After all, he isn’t pleading not guilty to being a sexual predator, he is pleading not guilty to ten charges relating to three girls. If he adamantly didn’t want to plead guilty, forcing the case to go to trial, he must have a fucking good alibi for his movements when his turn comes to take his place in the witness box.

Either that or he is playing a very brave double bluff which could land him in prison.

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This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative is here.