Generally speaking, and many newspaper editors would agree; one of the advantages of an obituary being after someone has died is that it lowers the risk of being sued for what you say.

An obituary is not an eulogy but, as CS says, information about their life. Nobody ever said any obituary had to be balanced, sound in evidence or positive. At this stage, there are serious allegations and if he were alive, our judicial system of prefacing everything with "alleged" would hold true.

As he cannot be taken to court, it will be difficult to get a fact "beyond all possible doubt" but in any event, the account of many people cannot be ignored. There are however, many others still alive whom he shared his time with, and perhaps waiting for the sword of Damocles to fall their way.

Anyway, it's been a while since Gary Glitter was in prison last...