Paedophile BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning dies in prison

Chris Denning, who found fame in the 1960s as a BBC DJ, was serving two 13-year sentences for sex offences against boys as young as eight.

In addition to using his fame and showbiz connections to dazzle his child victims, he opened a string of computer game shops to lure boys for abuse.

It has emerged that he died in June 2022, aged 81, while a prisoner of HMP Bedford.

The disgraced former star’s death appears to have gone unreported until today.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in custody, published a report saying it found “issues of concern in Mr Denning’s end-of-life care”.

Glittering career

Born in Hayes, West London, in 1941, Denning became a star in the 1960s.

He hosted shows on Radio Luxembourg, where he interviewed The Beatles, then hosted shows with Kenny Everett for the BBC.

He was one of the founding DJs on BBC Radio 1 and was the first voice ever to speak on BBC2.

He left the BBC for Decca Records, then moved to Bell Records, where he helped to launch the careers of paedophile Gary Glitter and the Bay City Rollers, whose manager Tam Paton was convicted of gross indecency involving boys aged 16 and 17 and is alleged to have been a paedophile.

Chris Denning in 1967, in his BBC Radio 1 heyday (second from right in the second row) (Image: PA)

All that glitters…

But in the 1970s Denning was exposed as a sex offender.

He was convicted of gross indecency in 1974.

In 1988, he was jailed for three years for indecent assault and possessing indecent images.

In 1996, he was prosecuted for publishing indecent articles.

His offences over the years included sexually abusing boys and possessing indecent images of children.

Despite his numerous convictions, he was invited in 1997 to participate in a 30-year anniversary reunion for BBC Radio 1, alongside Terry Wogan, Tony Blackburn and John Peel.

It was later revealed that he was already a convicted sex offender in Europe before he ever found fame in the UK.

He was prosecuted in 1959 in Germany for circulating pornographic images.

In 1997, despite now being a serially convicted sex offender, Denning joined Terry Wogan, Tony Blackburn and John peel for a 30-year anniversary photo shoot for BBC Radio 1. He is second from right in the second row, in a striped shirt (Image: PA)

More offences

In the late 1990s, Denning relocated to Prague, where he was accused of running a paedophile ring.

Denning had photographed himself abusing boys he picked up from amusement arcades and swimming pools.

He represented himself in that case and delivered a record 44-hour closing argument, which only ended when the judge cut him off. He was convicted of abusing boys under 15 and jailed.

In 2001, it was announced that police were seeking to extradite Denning from the Czech Republic to question him under Operation Arundel – the investigation into paedophile offences linked to the Walton Hop – a disco for teenagers.

That was the operation that saw former DJ Jonathan King convicted of abusing boys.

The extradition failed and Denning went on the run after his Prague sentence ended, first settling in Slovakia.

In 2005, The Sun newspaper tracked him down in Austria, which promptly deported him to England.

The following year, at Kingston Crown Court, he admitted five charges of abusing boys under 16 and was jailed for four years.

The Savile effect

After the Kingston case, Denning was extradited to Slovakia and sentenced to five years for producing indecent images of children.

By the time the Jimmy Savile revelations triggered Operation Yewtree in 2013, he was back in the UK, living in Basildon, Essex.

Denning was convicted in 2014 at Southwark Crown Court of 40 offences against 24 boys aged between nine and 16. The charges were brought under Yewtree.

Denning was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2014. Two years later he would be sentenced to another 13 years (Image: Elizabeth Cook / PA)

The court heard he had taken some victims to Top of the Pops recordings and introduced them to Jimmy Savile, even abusing one boy at Savile’s home.

Judge Alistair McCreath labelled Denning “utterly depraved” and sentenced him to 13 years.

In 2016, he admitted abusing another 11 boys, as young as eight, and was sentenced to another 13 years.

Death

In July 2021, Denning was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes, a heart abnormality, high blood pressure, glaucoma and bed sores.

He decided in January 2022 that he did not wish to be resuscitated if his heart or breathing stopped.

He died at Bedford Hospital on June 24, 2022, from a bone infection caused by diabetes.

A clinical reviewer for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that, “when clinical readings first showed that Mr Denning needed emergency care, he was not transferred to hospital for treatment".

The care he received in custody was worse than he could have expected to receive as a free man, the reviewer said.