Chris Denning
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Christopher David Denning (born 10 May 1941) is an English former
radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a ra ...
and convicted
sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crim ...
. His career effectively ended when he was convicted of sexual offences in 1974, and Denning has been imprisoned in Great Britain and overseas on multiple occasions since 1985.


Early life and radio career

Born in
Hayes, Middlesex Hayes is a town in west London, historically situated within the county of Middlesex, and now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded as 83,564 i ...
, Denning grew up in Cowley,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, the only child of middle-class parents. He has said that he was a
rent boy Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...
from the age of 13 and remained so until the age of 18. 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 The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselve ...
. He then returned to the UK in time to become the first announcer heard on BBC 2 when it began broadcasting in 1964. He worked for
Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...
and Radio London before presenting the Saturday afternoon programme ''Where It's At'' with
Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
(produced by
Johnny Beerling John William Beerling (born 12 April 1937) is a British radio producer and station controller. Early life Beerling attended the Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent. Career National Service He began his radio career during nationa ...
) on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's Light Programme. He then became one of the original DJs on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
, 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. Denning is gay, and has said he was ' out' when he was working at Radio 1. 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. He then became the number-two producer at Bell Records and was involved in developing the careers of the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter. After his employment with radio stations and record companies, he ran his own music and video production business, even being part of a 1997 Radio One reunion with Terry Wogan and Tony Blackburn.


Legal history

Denning's first conviction for gross indecency and
indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broa ...
was in 1974, when he was convicted at the Old Bailey, although he was not imprisoned. Before his conviction, Denning had been working for
Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...
's newly founded
UK Records UK Records was a music label launched in 1972 by Jonathan King to distribute his own releases and those by some other artists.
, but King sacked him after the guilty verdict. During the 1970s, Denning was part of a group of child sex offenders based around a disco for young people called the Walton Hop. Other participants included
Tam Paton Thomas Dougal "Tam" Paton (5 August 1938 – 8 April 2009) was a pop group manager, most notably of the Scottish boy band the Bay City Rollers. Biography Born in Prestonpans, Scotland, he was the son of a potato merchant. Paton initially drove a ...
, manager of the Bay City Rollers (convicted of child sex offences in 1982), and Jonathan King. All became suspects in Surrey Police's Operation Arundel, an investigation focusing on sex offenders, which ultimately led to convictions against King and Denning. In 1985, he was imprisoned for 18 months for gross indecency with a child, and in 1988 for three years for indecent assault on a 13-year-old boy and possession of indecent photographs. In March 1996, he was imprisoned for 10 weeks for publishing indecent photographs. The following year he was held in
Pankrác Prison Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison (''Vazební věznice Praha Pankrác'' in Czech), is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic. A part of the Czech Prison Service, it is located southeast of Prague city centre in Pankrác, not ...
in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
awaiting trial. This did not take place until 2000 when he was convicted of abusing seven boys aged under 15. He was released in 2001. After his release, he was wanted for questioning by Surrey Police, but an extradition attempt to Britain in the Prague City Court failed because the alleged offences fell outside of the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
's statute of limitation to five years, but Denning was ordered to leave the country "indefinitely". He was finally arrested in August 2005 at Heathrow Airport after returning to Britain from Austria. 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. Meanwhile, a European arrest warrant was issued in December 2007. In 2008, he was extradited from Britain to
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, where he was jailed in October for five years for producing
child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
. 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. In June 2013, he was arrested in east London as part of Operation Yewtree, an investigation into sexual abuse. He was re-arrested and bailed in September of that year, although 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. In August 2014, Denning admitted to 29 of the charges in relation to the offences committed against boys. In November at
Southwark Crown Court The Crown Court at Southwark, commonly but inaccurately called Southwark Crown Court, is one of two locations of the Crown Court in the London SE1 postcode area, along with the Crown Court at Inner London. Opened in 1983, the brick building is ...
, Denning pleaded guilty to a further 11 charges. In all he pleaded guilty to 40 sexual offences committed in the period 1967 to 1987 relating to 26 male victims, the youngest of whom was nine at the time of the offence. In December 2014, Judge Alistair McCreath sentenced Denning to 13 years in prison. Denning was charged with six offences stemming from the Operation Ravine investigation on 7 June 2016. On 22 August 2016, Denning pleaded guilty to 21 sex offences between 1969 and 1986, against 11 boys, the youngest of whom was eight. 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. 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, but the charges were dropped on 13 June.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denning, Chris 1941 births 20th-century English criminals 21st-century English criminals BBC radio presenters British male criminals English male prostitutes Criminals from London Criminals from Oxfordshire English expatriates in the Czech Republic English people convicted of child sexual abuse English people convicted of child pornography offences English people convicted of indecent assault English people imprisoned abroad English prisoners and detainees English radio DJs Fugitives Gay male prostitutes English LGBT broadcasters LGBT DJs English gay men Living people Offshore radio broadcasters Operation Yewtree People extradited from the Czech Republic People extradited to the United Kingdom People from Hayes, Hillingdon Pirate radio personalities Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales Prisoners and detainees of the Czech Republic Violence against men in Europe 20th-century English LGBT people 21st-century English LGBT people