Pop star Glitter arrested in British sex abuse probe

LONDON - British police arrested 1970s glam rocker Gary Glitter today as they probe the mountain of sexual abuse allegations against the late TV star Jimmy Savile that have plunged the BBC into crisis.

Glitter is the first person arrested in an investigation which has snowballed since claims that Savile molested underage girls were aired in a television documentary earlier this month.

Glitter, 68, the king of the glam rock era with a string of stomping hits, has served a jail term in Britain for downloading child pornography and in Vietnam for child sex offences. Wearing a hat, dark glasses and a winter coat, Glitter was seen being escorted from his expensive central London home into a waiting vehicle early today.

"Officers working on Operation Yewtree have today arrested a man in his 60s in connection with the investigation," a Scotland Yard spokesman said.