Disgraced radio DJ Chris Denning dies while serving prison term for sex crimes

Disgraced former Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning has died while serving two 13-year jail terms for child sex abuse.

The prolific paedophile, 81, used his fame to groom and sexually assault dozens of young victims in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and even “offered” one boy to another BBC presenter.

His death at a Bedford Hospital on June 24 last year from a bacterial infection caused by diabetes has just come to light in a Prisons & Probation Ombudsman report.

He was serving his jail term at nearby HMP Bedford.

Denning, one of Radio 1’s founding presenters, was sentenced to 13 years in prison at Southwark Crown Court in 2016 for abusing 11 boys.

He had admitted 21 sexual offences, including indecent assault and inciting boys to commit acts of gross indecency.

He was already serving 13 years behind bars for a string of sexual assaults against 24 victims, including one allegedly at Jimmy Savile’s house.

Some of his victims were as young as eight and he took some of the boys to London on several occasions where he introduced them to other celebrities, including Gary Glitter.

Judge Alistair McCreath said the effect on the victims, now grown men, has been “devastating” and branded the disgraced DJ “utterly depraved”.