Biology trumps morality. WOW! Leftist's, who own our universites-people who HATE JUDEO/CHRISTIAN ETHICS have now done studies proving that morality is subordinated to biological factors. I'm sorry but how many 8 year olds have biological urges to sleep with middle aged men?

John, Lancaster PA, US

Gary Glitter is not a martyr, he is a criminal. To suggest that we should view paedeophilia as an "orientation" choice is absurd. Paedophiles are not entering into a relationship, they are commiting violent sexual crimes agaist children that scar these children for life.

Delancey, Omaha, NE, USA

Lynn from New York -

Two years after Anne of Bohemia died, Richard married Isabella of Valois, who was seven years old.

Thom, London,

Abuse of children is the most vicious of crimes one can imagine. Let's focus on the consequences for the victims before even considering those for the offender.

Ray Massart, Hombeek, Belgium

I would like to know whether there are many paedophiles who never commit an offence, either because they are scared of being caught or because they know it would be wrong. If some don't, perhaps none are just victims of their urges - and we ought to support the ones who don't.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

David, Quebec city, canada-
Most societies consider puberty as the age for consent. In Western societies people live far longer now than they did historically. The age of consent, like the ave. age of marriage,. has, of course, risen in reflection of this extension of all stages of life..........

V, London, UK

After Anne of Bohemia, Richard II married Isabella of Valois, she was 6 he was 29.

Lou, London,

Dave of Quebec...just don't go there mate .!!

kirk, Rotherham, UK

Glitter isn't the only paedo in the world, however Smith is the only politician I can think of who is so opportunist as to try to score political points off his back. It is not coincidence and I find it revolting. He's an easy target for a weak politician. Perhaps she should get a Batman suit out.

James, Oxford,

John C Cork
No one denies that children need to be protected. But as all children should be treated with compassion and respect, so should glitter. Perhaps if we invested more money in comprehensive sexual behavior studies we wouldn't have to later spend it on "surveilance".

Edward Tattersfield, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Richard II did not marry a six year-old. He and Anne of Bohemia were both 15 when they married.

Lynn, New York,

"the idea that we are all equally responsible for what we do and all equally culpable for our crimes - is being eroded by biology"

No, actually, it isn't.

Doesn't matter if you have poor impulse control or a tendency to padophilia. Do the crime, do the time. Sorry, but there it is.

IainA, Edinburgh, UK

Ms. Marrin, why don't you host Mr. Glitter. He can stay with you while you rehabilitate him. Just be sure to move to the middle of the country, preferably on a large farm with no children within walking distance. Also, restrict his use of an auto and limit his Internet time. Enjoy.

Juan, San Diego, USA

Edward Tattersfield,
"IF Glitter was succesfully rehabilitized....."
While treatment fails to guarantee rehabilitisation and the punishment fails to deter others, then methods that will protect children must be applied. Our responsibility is to the children!
John C, Cork

John C, Cork, Ireland ex Liverpool

It is amazing that children's rights don't feature here. If Gary Glitter had committed a single act of child abuse this argument might have some weight. However the guy is a serial offender who has a taste for little Asian girls. Poor and vulnerable little girls. Disposable, faceless, nameless girls

Alice, Johannesburg, SA

I am sure Gary Glitter got himself saddled with obligations during his career, especially considering his particular output. Unattractive as is the paedophile business, it seems to have acquired the quality of the old witch hunt and may thereby be making matters worse.

Henry Percy, London , UK

Very well to say person is entitled to salvation however bad he is,but what about effect on innocent children.....all over world childrens feelings are ignored!!!..... about time these bad people are dealt with properly ....... this is not a mistake... not able to be rehabilitated!!!!

carol gray, Cape Town, South Africa

Good to see from the comments that britons still act like raging texan right wingers. The old intolerant lock em up throw away the key/kill em types. If Glitter was succesfully rehabilitized he could be a high profile representative against child abuse, wont happen if everybody hates him though...

Edward Tattersfield, Buenos Aires, Argentina

A person is entitled to salvation however bad he/she is, Myra Hindley included.

ian cheese, london, uk

I have to agree with, elizabeth schumann, Paris, France. I wonder if this where her own children, would she be as "understanding". People keep saying that hes paid his debt and served his time. I and a lot of other people dont think, nearly 3 years is long enough. The abused carry a life sentence .

Sandra, Hull,

James - I'm not sure treatment works. An old teacher of mine was recently jailed for abusing his own daughter and some pupils and it turns out he received treatment in the 1980s and 90s to try to cure his paedophilic urges. Maybe chemical castration really is the only way?
Laura, Southampton

Laura, Southampton,

Glitter - like most paedophiles - is yet again playing the victim card. The guy is calculated- when he got released from prison in the UK having been caught with a stack of child porn he bought a boat and called it Voyageur i.e. not Voyager but a play on the word Voyeur. That alone show his colours

Dylan Pemberton, Liverpool, England

Glitter has served his prison time, so has been punished for his crimes.
UK policy is to put him on the sex offenders register, which is some safeguard.
Glitter has returned to his own very violent country, so would be wise not to dare do anything wrong.
Lets give him a chance to be good.

b.lawler, crawley, uk

I wonder how this statistic is measured? And if one finds out or realises that he or she is sexually attracted to kids whether help should obtained, quickly! I might suggest that in the case of men sexual attraction is seeing any object, living or inanimate and wondering if he could get off on it.

james, banbury, england

Mohammed married Aisha when she was 6 or 7 and consummated the relationship when she was 9, according to Qur'anic sources. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha Does that make Mohammed a pedophile or do societal norms in a given time and place come into it?

David, Quebec City, Canada

I agree that the treatment of Glitter has been appalling. I also agree that there are many issues unknown about peodophillia.HOWEVER, the difference between it and other sexual urges is that it invloves a a small child that is in no position to give their consent. This is what makes it wrong.

gordon, glasgow, UK

Instead of Glitter opportunism the Home Secretary would be better employed addressing the scandalous targeting of schoolgirls by gangs of men for sex, drugs and ultimately prostitution. Of course political correctness means she will do no such thing.

Callan, Liverpool, England

The media is flooded with details of Glitter's heinous crimes and calls to kill him (I have seen dozens in the Sun's forums). The same media is silent about the millions of young lives destroyed by drug use. Even Jack Straw's son was selling drugs. Is this just one more double standard?

trevor, westcliff, uk

Recently a Welsh policeman was stabbed to death by a neighbour after being accused of having child porn. AFTER his murder, the police put security cameras on his mother's house to protect her from other such citizens. If it's too expensive to protect her, maybe SHE should be locked up for life?

Rory Connor, Dublin, Ireland

Toni, a pedophile is a person sexually and romantically attracted to prepubescent children, not a juridical term nor a crime. A paedophile may or may not molest kids, and a person who molests children may or may not be a paedophile. The difference is that paedophiles are mainly attracted to kids.

Johan, Gothenburg, Sweden

The moral relativism preached in this article,propped up by 'sociobiological' research is leaching through society and making it vulnerable to fundamentalist nutters of all persuasions. So, nothing is bad or wicked,nothing by the same token is good or wholesome. We are not masters of our destinies!

Bill Q, Derby,

A cynic might say that journalists with more cash might have got interviews with his two Vietnamese victims saying that he never did it and they made it all up. Money talks, and not just in the far East. Of course we must protect children from harm and not just our own but society has gone too far.

kelly jacobs, Nice, France

Yet againg a woman pounding out the sterotype that all peodophiles are men, studies show that about 15% of all sexual abuse cases are older women attacking younger boys, and this ignores totally the mental and non-sexual attacks carried out every day by women on children of both sexes.

Ian J, Ramsgate, UK

I dont think the term mad bad dangerous to know helps any one, Gary Glitter has never stopped grining since he arrived back here he will have a lot of friends just like himself who are peodophiles who will make sure he gets lots of help, clever and cunning there is always a safety net for them.

Mary, Stockport, Cheshire

Paedophilia has a lot to do with sex with children but more about control. Grooming, the process that paedophiles use to get children receptive to sexual advances and abuse, is a deberate and focused effort at controlling the child. Glitter deserves to be locked up for UK offenses.

Evin, Boca Raton, USA

Julius Caesar married a thirteen year old. King Richard II married a six year old. Oddly enough, paedophilia is not one of the things either is usually remembered for.

JF, London, UK

Yes he is arrogant,but not calculated finding the lord would get him reprieve in some quarters.What if he was set up,what if someone else downloaded the porn-apparently he can't read or write-also he has been impotent for 25 years-asia is rife with child sex promoted by parents.Is he guilty probably

john, London, uk

Blah blah blah, Polly Filla, and on a serious issue, too. It wasn't YOUR children that were molested by him, or you wouldn't be writing this.

elizabeth schumann, Paris, France

for thousands of years we have known that you have to 'cultivate' people with good nurturing, culture and some kind of positive religious practise... the evidence that child abuse and violent crime is promoted by poor child upbringing is *overwhelming* .. stop pretending otherwise.. !!

jay, edinburgh, scotland

check that 20-25% study. There is a clear difference between responding to pictures of 15yr olds and 2yr olds. One is creepy, the other abhorant. There are so many different kinds of sexual attraction to children of all ages. We need to approach this maturely to help prevent child rape in the future

Ez Mayo, Oxford,

Gosh, if 20-25% of supposedly normal men are attracted to children, should we even allow men to be fathers?

Have we all just completely lost it?

JJ, Linlithgow,

The Vietnam conviction was clearly paid for by the tabloids, so his only conviction is of having photos which he had downloaded on his computer.

Veronika D, Cheltenham,

The difference between the 20%-25% of the supposedly normal male population sexually attracted to children and peodophiles is that the former don't act on these urges. That alone suggests that the latter group are wired differently.

Toni Summers Hargis, expat, CHICAGO, USA