Glitter refuses to board UK flight

1:05pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

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Paedophile rock star Gary Glitter was in limbo after he failed to board a second flight to the UK following his release from a Vietnamese prison.

The Foreign Office said Glitter refused to board the flight from Thailand to England on Tuesday night and remained in transit, reportedly in a VIP area where travellers can rent small bedrooms at Bangkok airport.

A second flight left Bangkok at 12.25pm local time for London but Thai Airways said Glitter, travelling under his real name Paul Gadd, was not aboard.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that Britain cannot enforce Glitter's return but must have a plan if he does come back.

She told GMTV: "I don't want any sex offenders in this country, but the point is, Vietnamese officials have deported him to the UK, so, as we do whenever sex offenders return to this country, we need to plan ... for what happens when people return."

She said anyone returning to the UK "in these sorts of circumstances" would be met at the airport by police officers and served with an order which effectively puts them on the sex offenders register.

Glitter was released from prison on Tuesday after serving two years and nine months of a three-year sentence for abusing two girls aged 10 and 11. While in prison he was treated for a heart condition and tinnitus and he has said he wants to return to the UK for treatment.

After his flight from Ho Chi Minh City landed at Bangkok, Glitter refused to board a connecting flight to Heathrow which was due to arrive on Wednesday morning. When Thai officials refused to let him through passport control and into the country, he demanded to fly to Singapore.

The 64-year-old reportedly argued with Thai immigration officers, insisting he was a "free man", while British embassy officials tried to convince him to board the flight home and a British police officer who was due to accompany him home looked on.

Glitter then complained of fatigue and was taken to the VIP area. It is unlikely Glitter will remain in Thailand for any length of time after being told he would not be allowed out of Bangkok airport unless it was on an international flight.