Former UK pop star Gary Glitter ordered to pay sex abuse victim $650,000

LONDON (Reuters) - Former British pop singer Gary Glitter was on Tuesday ordered to pay a woman he sexually abused as a child more than 500,000 pounds ($637,000) in damages.

The 80-year-old, whose real name is Paul Gadd, shot to fame in the 1970s as a "glam-rock" star before he was later repeatedly convicted and jailed for child sex crimes.

Gadd was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2015 after being found guilty of indecently assaulting three girls in the 1970s.

One of those three victims, who said she was 12 when Gadd raped and sexually assaulted her, sued the singer at London's High Court for damages caused by the abuse.

Judge Amanda Tipples on Tuesday awarded the woman 508,800 pounds ($647,730) in damages after a hearing in March at which Gadd was not present or represented by lawyers.

The damages awarded to the woman, who is now 60 years old and cannot be named as a victim of sexual abuse, included 381,000 pounds for loss of earnings.

Gadd could not be reached for comment. Earlier this year, he lost a bid to be released from prison on parole.

Gadd was first jailed in 1999 for possession of child pornography and later moved to Cambodia, but was deported in 2002 due to suspected sex offences.

In 2006, a Vietnamese court convicted him of committing obscene acts with two girls aged 10 and 11 and sentenced him to four years in jail. On his release he returned to Britain.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Sarah Young)