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Chris Denning

Christopher David Denning (10 May 1941 – 24 June 2022) was an English radio presenter and sex offender. His career effectively ended when he was convicted of sexual offences in 1974. He was imprisoned several times in the United Kingdom, Czechia and Slovakia between 1985 and his death in custody in 2022.

Chris Denning
Born
Christopher David Denning

(1941-05-10)10 May 1941
Hayes, Middlesex, England
Died24 June 2022(2022-06-24) (aged 81)
Bedford, England
OccupationRadio presenter
Criminal chargesSex offences

Early life

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Christopher David Denning was born in Hayes, Middlesex on 10 May 1941.[1][2] He grew up in Cowley, Oxford, the only child of middle-class parents.[3] He has said that he was a rent boy from the age of 13[2] and remained so until the age of 18.[3]

Radio career

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His first radio experience was on a short-wave station in the United States as a teenager before travelling to Kenya to work on British Forces Network.[4] He then returned to the UK in time to become the first announcer heard on BBC Two when it began broadcasting in 1964.[5] He worked for Radio Luxembourg and Radio London before presenting the Saturday afternoon programme Where It's At with Kenny Everett (produced by Johnny Beerling) on the BBC's Light Programme.[6][7] He then became one of the original DJs on BBC Radio 1,[8] where he continued presenting Where It's At, had his own weekly show and deputised as necessary for Tony Blackburn on the latter's breakfast show.[9][10] Denning was gay, and has said that he was 'out' when he was working at Radio 1.[3]

Denning left Radio 1 in 1969 after facing accusations that his job there came into conflict with his new promotional job at Decca Records, which the BBC had initially agreed to with provisos. He worked for Decca for two years.[9] He then became the number two producer at Bell Records and was involved in developing the careers of the Bay City Rollers[9] and Gary Glitter.[3]

After his employment with radio stations and record companies, he ran his own music and video production business, and was part of a 1997 Radio One reunion with Terry Wogan and Tony Blackburn.[11]

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In 1959, Denning was jailed in Germany for distributing pornographic images.[12]

Denning's first conviction for gross indecency and indecent assault was in 1974 when he was convicted at the Old Bailey,[13] although he was not imprisoned.[2] Before his conviction, Denning had been working for Jonathan King's newly founded UK Records, but King sacked him after the guilty verdict.[14]

During the 1970s, Denning was part of a group of child sex offenders based around a disco for young people[15] called the Walton Hop. Other participants included Tam Paton, manager of the Bay City Rollers (convicted of child sex offences in 1982), and Jonathan King.[15][16] All became suspects in Surrey Police's Operation Arundel, an investigation focusing on sex offenders, which ultimately led to convictions against King and Denning.[17]

In 1985, he was imprisoned for 18 months for gross indecency with a child,[13] and in 1988 for three years for indecent assault on a 13-year-old boy and possession of indecent photographs.[13] In March 1996, he was imprisoned for ten weeks for publishing indecent photographs.[13] The following year he was held in Pankrác Prison in Prague to await his trial in 2000, which convicted him of abusing seven boys aged under 15. He was released in 2001.[2]

After his release, he was wanted for questioning by Surrey Police, but an extradition attempt by British authorities in the Prague City Court failed because the alleged offences fell outside of the Czech Republic's statute of limitation of five years, but Denning was ordered to leave the country "indefinitely".[14] He was arrested in August 2005 at Heathrow Airport after returning to Britain from Austria.[17] He admitted to five charges of the indecent assault of boys aged under 16 years of age, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s: he was convicted the following February and imprisoned for four years.[17] Meanwhile, a European arrest warrant was issued in December 2007.[18]

In 2008, he was extradited from Britain to Slovakia, where he was jailed in October for five years for producing child pornography.[3][13] The offences in Slovakia dated back to 2002 and 2003. He had been briefly held in custody in Bratislava during 2004 following a search of his house, but then quickly left the country.[18]

In June 2013, he was arrested in east London as part of Operation Yewtree, an investigation into sexual abuse.[19] He was re-arrested and bailed out in September of that year. The allegations made against Denning were not part of those relating to Jimmy Savile. In May 2014, as a result of the investigation, he was charged with 41 sex offences.[20][21][22] In August 2014, Denning admitted to 29 of the charges in relation to the offences committed against boys.[23] In November at Southwark Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to a further eleven charges. In all, he pled guilty to 40 sexual offences committed in the period 1967 to 1987 relating to 26 male victims, the youngest of whom was 9 at the time of the offence. In December 2014, Judge Alistair McCreath sentenced him to 13 years in prison.[24]

Denning was charged with six offences stemming from the Operation Ravine investigation on 7 June 2016.[25] On 22 August 2016, Denning pleaded guilty to 21 sex offences between 1969 and 1986, against 11 boys, the youngest of whom was 8.[26] At Southwark Crown Court on 7 October 2016, Judge Alistair McCreath sentenced Denning to another 13 years in prison for these additional offences, running from the day of the court hearing.[27][28]

On 7 December 2017, Denning pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one of taking indecent photos of a child between March 1979 and March 1981. His trial was due to start on 11 June 2018,[29] but the charges were dropped on 13 June.[30]

Death

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Denning died while in prison custody in Bedford Hospital on 24 June 2022, as a result of a bone infection caused by diabetes. He was 81 years old. His death was not reported publicly until October 2023. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in prison custody, found that "when clinical readings first showed that Mr Denning needed emergency care, he was not transferred to hospital for treatment".[31]

References

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  1. ^ "Former Radio 1 DJ fails to get his sentence cut". getsurrey.co.uk (July 2, 2013 ed.). 27 July 2006. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Pitkin, James (19 December 2001). "Denning: Going against social norms". The Prague Post. Archived from the original on 10 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e Connolly, Kate (4 May 1999). "All Played Out". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. ^ Legge, James (10 September 2013). "Ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning re-arrested by Jimmy Savile police on suspicion of sex offences". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Chris Denning convicted again of sex abuse against boys". BBC News. 14 November 2014. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  6. ^ "The BBC bans A Day in the Life". Beatles Bible website. 20 May 1967. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Beatles Interview: Where It's At, Sgt Pepper Promo Party". Beatles interviews website. 19 May 1967. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Radio 1 Original Presenter List as Published September 4th 1967". Radio Rewind. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  9. ^ a b c Symonds, David (27 September 1992). "One-Der Boys". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012.
  10. ^ "The BBC bans A Day in the Life". Offshore Radio website. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  11. ^ "Profile: Chris Denning, former BBC Radio 1 DJ". BBC News. 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Paedophile ex-Radio One DJ on the run". Dorset Echo. Weymouth. 26 April 2005. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Radio 1 DJ jailed for paedophilia claims offences were consensual". The Telegraph. LOndon. 22 February 2010. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  14. ^ a b O'Neill, Sean (28 November 2001). "Paedophile DJ escapes extradition to Britain". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  15. ^ a b Chalmers, Robert (22 April 2012). "Jonathan King: 'The only apology I have is to say that I was good at seduction'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  16. ^ Ronson, Jon (1 December 2001). "The fall of a pop impresario". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  17. ^ a b c "Ex-Radio 1 DJ abused young boys". BBC News website. 10 February 2006. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  18. ^ a b "Ex-Radio 1 DJ Jailed For Kid Porn". Sky News website. 8 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  19. ^ Halliday, Josh (6 June 2013). "Former Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning held on suspicion of sexual offences". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  20. ^ "Ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning in court over sex offence charges". BBC News. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  21. ^ "Ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning remanded on sex charges". BBC News. 6 June 2014. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  22. ^ "Court delay for ex-Radio 1 Denning". Shropshire Star. 11 July 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  23. ^ "Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning admits abusing boys" Archived 3 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 5 August 2014
  24. ^ "Ex-DJ Chris Denning jailed for sex abuse". BBC News. 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  25. ^ "Ex-DJ Denning charged with child sex offences". BBC News. 7 June 2016. Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  26. ^ "Ex-DJ Denning admits child sex offences". BBC News. 22 August 2016. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  27. ^ "Paedophile ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning 'introduced victims to Gary Glitter and offered boy to BBC colleague'". The Daily Telegraph. 7 October 2016. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  28. ^ "Ex-BBC DJ Chris Denning jailed for child sex offences". BBC News. 7 October 2016. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  29. ^ "Ex-Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning denies sexually abusing teenage boy 'passed on to him' by Surrey man". Get Surrey. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  30. ^ "Former DJ is cleared of latest sex abuse claims". The Echo. 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  31. ^ Thomson, Charles (5 October 2023). "Paedophile BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning dies in prison". Echo News. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
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