Gary Glitter has sobbed in court while facing questions over videos he watched showing men having sex with children.

Weeping uncontrollably in the witness box, the 70-year-old said he had been in a bad place in his life, and was struggling financially, with alcohol and with drugs.

"God knows, I've paid," he told the court.

"I lost my own dignity, and I am so sorry. I am very sorry.

"I am sorry today and every day of my life ever since. I am sorry to my fans."

Standing trial under his real name, Paul Gadd, Glitter faces 10 charges over sex offences on three girls, allegedly committed between 1975 and 1980.

He has previously admitted possessing sexual images of children after content was discovered on a laptop he had given to PC World for servicing in 1997.

John Price QC, prosecuting, told Glitter that lots of people had career problems but that they "don't all download child porn".

Glitter said he was downloading all sorts of pornography at the time, but was asked why he decided to look at content featuring children.

"I don't why, I suppose it was just curiosity," he said.

Earlier, one of his alleged victims had claimed he was wearing platform shoes when he assaulted her in his dressing room.

But he insisted he had begun wearing cowboy boots on stage by the time of the alleged offence and had stopped wearing platform heels because of the energetic nature of his act and the damage they had done to his ankles.

The singer, from Marylebone in central London, denies all the charges against him.