Jimmy Savile’s paedophile friend Chris Denning dies in prison: Ex-Radio 1 DJ & TV presenter died last year

A disgraced television and radio host Chris Denning, who carried out ‘utterly depraved’ sex assaults against children, died in prison last year aged 81, according to an official report. The paedophile friend of Jimmy Savile admitted to 21 child sex assaults on 11 boys aged eight to 15 between 1969 and 1986. 

Denning died in June 2022 while serving his term in HMP Bedford, but his death was only just discovered on Friday (October 6) as a result of a prison watchdog investigation into his care. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman cited "issues of concern in Denning's end-of-life care" in his report. He died from a bone infection caused by diabetes.

In addition to using his fame and showbiz connections to dazzle his child victims, the popular radio DJ in the 60s also opened a string of computer game shops to lure boys for abuse. 

Denning was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006 after admitting to five counts of sexually abusing boys under the age of 16. Following the case, he was extradited to Slovakia and sentenced to five years in prison for producing indecent pictures of children.

When the Met Police began Operation Yewtree, which investigated allegations of sex abuse, Savile and Denning were both exposed. He was found guilty of 40 charges committed against 24 boys aged nine to 16.

The court heard he had taken some victims to Top of the Pops recordings and introduced them to Savile, even abusing one boy at Savile’s home. Denning was deemed "utterly depraved" by Judge Alistair McCreath and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

In 2016, he admitted to abusing 11 boys, some as young as eight, and was sentenced to another 13 years in prison. 

Denning hosted shows on Radio Luxembourg, where he interviewed The Beatles, then hosted shows with Kenny Everett for the BBC. He was one of the founding DJs on BBC Radio 1 and was the first voice ever to speak on BBC2.

He left the BBC for Decca Records, then moved to Bell Records, where he helped to launch the careers of paedophile Gary Glitter and the Bay City Rollers. Their manager, Tom Paton, was convicted of gross indecency involving boys aged 16 and 17 and is alleged to have been a paedophile.

Denning was first exposed as a sex offender in 1970. In 1988, he was jailed for three years for indecent assault and possessing indecent images. In 1996, he was prosecuted for publishing indecent articles.

Despite his numerous convictions, he was invited in 1997 to participate in a 30-year anniversary reunion for BBC Radio 1, alongside Terry Wogan, Tony Blackburn and John Peel.

It was later revealed that he was already a convicted sex offender in Europe before he ever found fame in the UK. He was prosecuted in 1959 in Germany for circulating pornographic images.