News

Gary Glitter Returns to Britain

Airport police have denied Gary Glitter entry into Bangkok and Hong Kong, forcing the former glam-rock star to fly back to England after his release on Tuesday from a Vietnam jail. Glitter had served two years and three months for abusing a 10 and 11-year-old girl. A source close to immigration officials told the Telegraph, "He was given the deportation papers as soon as he touched down (in Bangkok). That meant [Thai police] could legally make him get on that plane back to the UK, or put him in a detention center."

While Major General Phongdej Chaiprawat, the head of immigration at Bangkok's airport, couldn't confirm what flight Glitter is taking back to Britain, it's believed that he'll leave the country at around 1 a.m. and touch down at Heathrow Airport around 7 a.m. Friday morning. British policemen will then interview Glitter and ask him to sign the country's sex offenders registry. England's home secretary, Jacqui Smith, has said it's unlikely Glitter will be allowed to travel abroad again, due to fears that he'll abuse other children.

Glitter's problems began back home in 1999, when police seized his computer and uncovered his child pornography collection. He then served two months of a four-month sentence before moving to Spain, Cuba and, finally, Southeast Asia. Cambodia first expelled Glitter after allegations of sex crimes, forcing him to move to the Vietnamese coastal resort of Vung Tau.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
08.21.08