Gary Glitter has reportedly been released from prison after serving half his sentence

Former pop star Gary Glitter has been released from a UK prison after serving half his sentence for sexual assault, according to reports.

Glitter, who is 79, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 after being found guilty of sexually abusing three underage girls. The ages of the deceased were 13, 12 and 10.

However, he has now been released from the Dorset prison where he was serving his sentence, the Press Association reported. The news agency said he was released from the low-security prison on Friday morning but will still be subject to “licence conditions”, meaning he will serve the rest of his sentence in the community.

Glitter was originally arrested as part of a larger police investigation called Operation Yewtree, which was launched by the Metropolitan Police to look into historic sex crimes committed by celebrities following the Jimmy Savile scandal. Saville was a long-time radio DJ and TV presenter who was exposed as a prolific sex predator after his death in 2011.

Glitter rose to fame as a glam rock singer in the 1970s and 80s with hits such as “Do You Wanna Touch Me” and “I Love You Love Me Love”. His career effectively ended in 1999 when he was sentenced to four months in prison after being found guilty of possessing 4,000 images of child sexual abuse. The sentence came just hours after he was found not guilty of sexually abusing a minor girl in a separate trial.

In 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two underage girls in Vietnam and sentenced to three years, of which he served two and a half years.