Paedophile Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning dies in prison aged 81
6 October 2023, 09:47
A ‘depraved’ Radio 1 DJ who was a friend of Jimmy Savile has died in prison.
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Chris Denning was serving two 13-year prison sentences after being convicted of sex offences against boys as young as eight.
His death has only just been disclosed after he passed away in hospital from diabetes at the age of 81.
He was being held at HMP Bedford at the time of his death.
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in custody, published a report saying it found “issues of concern in Mr Denning’s end-of-life care”.
He used his fame and showbiz connections to lure boys for abuse.
He was exposed in the 1970s as a sex offender and convicted of gross indecency in 1974.
In 1988 he was jailed for three years for indecent assault and possessing indecent images.
In the late 1990s he moved to Prague where he was accused of running a paedophile ring.
He photographed himself abusing boys he picked up from amusement arcades and swimming pools.
Under Operation Yewtree, Denning was convicted in 2014 at Southwark Crown Court of 40 offences against 24 boys aged between nine and 16. He was sentenced to 13 years.
In 2016 he admitted to abusing another 11 boys and was sentenced to another 13 years.
He died at Bedford Hospital on June 24, 2022, from a bone infection caused by diabetes.
A clinical review for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that “when clinical readings first showed that Mr Denning needed emergency care, he was not transferred to hospital for treatment".
The care he received in custody was worse than he could have expected to receive as a free man, the reviewer said.
