Glitter gossip not so glam

NOT the leader of the gang ... Amanda Lyons and her motorhome in Greenfield.

I AM not Gary Glitter! – that’s the message from a fed-up Greenfield yoga teacher.

Amanda Lyons bought a plush 30-foot Sundance trailer and retreated to the Well-i’-th’-Hole campsite for a summer of relaxation.

But peace and quiet has become a distant memory after rumours led locals to believe it was where the perverted 70s glam-rock star was holed up. People have been banging on her door and shouting abuse in the early hours of the morning forcing her to call the police.

Amanda (39) said: “We don’t know where the rumour has come from. People have knocked on the door out of interest while others have had the look of vigilantes.

“A group of men turned up and I managed to convince them he wasn’t here, they said I better get it sorted as people on Facebook had been threatening to burn the caravan down. On another occasion a group of teenage lads came knocking on the door at 2am shouting ‘Gary!’. I came out and they were taking pictures and shoving me around and I had to call the police.”

Amanda, who is also a holistic therapist, sold her Greenfield home in April and moved to the trailer until she decided where to move to.

She admits to laughing off the rumour when she first heard it, but now it has got serious.

She added: “People in Stalybridge have even called the police wanting them to check out whether he was here.

“The truth is actually really mundane, but people would rather believe speculative celebrity gossip than the fact it’s just a holistic therapist who wants a bit of quiet.”

Rumours have circulated in the past that Gary Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was house-hunting in Saddleworth, prompting outrage.

The singer who had a string of hit in the 1970s was convicted in Vietnam in 2006 for molesting two local girls aged 11 and 12, and served 27 months in prison.

But fears of him moving to Greenfield are also plaguing farm owner Nigel Hadfield, whose family own the site where Amanda is staying. He said: “Enough is enough, my wife works in a school and people have been asking us if we’re allowing him to stay here. There is no way we would allow anyone like that on the farm —we want to attract families!

“We want to say outright he is not here and never will be.”