Gary Glitter 'will fly to London'

Published on Thursday 21 August 2008 14:39

CHILD abuser Gary Glitter has agreed to leave Thailand for London, police said today.

His decision ends a two-day farce that began when he was released from a Vietnamese prison after serving his sentence for child abuse.

The 64-year-old has been twice refused entry into Thailand and once turned away from Hong Kong after flying out from Vietnam.

But Thai police general Phongdej Chaiprawat said he did not know when the ageing former rocker will leave Bangkok nor which flight he will be taking.

Glitter, real name Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted in March 2006 of committing "obscene acts with children" in Vietnam. He served two years and nine months of a three-year sentence which was reduced for good behaviour.

A police spokesman said Glitter arrived back in Bangkok today and was again denied entry. He said Glitter's airline, Thai Airways, should ensure he continues on his originally planned journey to England.

"Thailand is not allowing him to enter the country and Hong Kong is turning him back so there is no choice for him now," he said. "It is the responsibility of Thai Airways to take him out of the country."

A spokeswoman for Thai Airways said the airline told Glitter that his only option was to fly to London.

On Tuesday night Glitter was taken from his prison cell to a Thai Airways flight out of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. He had been booked to change planes in Bangkok en route to London, but refused to board the flight to Britain, complaining of an earache.

Glitter was denied entry because under Thai immigration laws those convicted of child sex abuse in a foreign country can be barred.

Glitter's fall from grace began in 1997, when he took his computer for repair and was discovered to have downloaded thousands of hardcore pornographic images of children. Two years later he was convicted of possession of child pornography, and Glitter served half of a four-month jail term.