CONVICTED sex offender Gary Glitter is set to be relased from a prison in Dorset 'early next year', according to reports.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, is currently held at HMP The Verne - a sex-offenders prison on Portland for category C offenders.

The 78 year old was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for attempted rape, unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13, and four counts of indecent assault.

Reports from PA and The Sun suggest the former pop star could be released as early as February 2023.

According to the reports, a Ministry of Justice source told The Sun: “The nature of his determinate sentence means the case won’t go to the Parole Board.

“It simply means that as soon as his sentence is over, he is free to walk out of the prison gates.”

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman told the PA news agency: “Sex offenders released from prison are closely monitored by both the police and the Probation Service and may be recalled to jail if they breach their strict licence conditions.”

Glitter found fame in the 1970s as part of the glam rock scene, scoring number one hits with I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am), I Love You Love Me Love and Always Yours.

He suffered a spectacular fall from grace in 1999 when he admitted possessing child pornography images, and was sentenced to four months in jail.

In 2002, he was expelled from Cambodia over unspecified allegations and, in March 2006, he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam.

An offender who is convicted of a sexual offence is released on a strict licence.

The terms of the licence can include staying in an approved premise, obeying a curfew and having GPS tagging, not having unsupervised contact with children and restrictions on internet usage.

Victims’ families can also be protected from unwanted contact through exclusion zones being set up.