Glitter appeal against sex offences is rejected

Published on Thursday 15 June 2006 13:58

DISGRACED British rocker Gary Glitter was starting a three-year prison sentence in Vietnam today for molesting young girls after judges threw out his appeal.

The 62-year-old singer - famed in the 1970s as an outrageous act decked out in bouffant wigs and sequin jumpsuits - had been found guilty by a court on March 3 for committing obscene acts with girls aged ten and 11.

Standing before the judge today at the People's Supreme Court of Appeals, Glitter clasped his hands behind him and shook his head several times as he listened during the 40-minute verdict.

Truong Vinh Thuy, one of three judges hearing Glitter's appeal in Ho Chi Minh City, said the court "rejects the appeal of the accused and sentences him to three years in prison for obscene acts with children".

As Glitter left the court, he screamed at reporters: "There was no defence allowed!"

"I didn't do anything!" he said and yelled an obscenity at journalists before he was put in a military green police truck and driven away.

Glitter, real name Paul Francis Gadd, was accused of kissing, fondling, and "engaging in other physical acts" with the girls at his rented villa in the seaside city of Vung Tau, about 80 miles south-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

He has maintained his innocence, saying he was teaching the girls English at his home and considered them "like his grandchildren".

He has admitted to police that the 11-year-old girl slept in his room because she was afraid of ghosts, but denied committing any lewd acts, said his lawyer Le Thanh Kinh.

Glitter said he was a victim of a conspiracy by the media, witnesses and the victims.