Glitter goes to ground

Grinning Gary Glitter touched down in the UK this morning - and was ORDERED to put his name on the Sex Offenders Register.

The pop paedo failed to turn up for his court hearing, instead sending his lawyer while he remained holed up at Heathrow Airport.

David Corker, solicitor for the former Seventies glam rock star, argued that Glitter's conviction for molesting two young girls in Vietnam was a travesty of justice and demanded a "fair hearing" in the British courts.

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But district judge David Simpson, sitting at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court four miles from Heathrow in west London, dismissed the calls and ordered that Glitter sign up as a sex offender by Monday.

He will be required to tell authorities where he plans to live, be monitored by police and the probation service, and could also face an order prohibiting him from going near children or using the internet. He must also inform police if he intends to go abroad for more than three days.

Outside court Mr Corker said the 64-year-old, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was "pleased to be back in the UK" but was "concerned about his safety".

He added: "He tells me his trial in Vietnam was a charade, a travesty of justice. He never got a fair trial.

"He did not commit the offences of which he was convicted in Vietnam. It was a showtrial. He had no opportunity to put his defence forward."

But Mr Corker said his pleas to the court had been rejected, and added: "Mr Gadd now has three days to work with police and that will be done."

Glitter did not attend the 10-minute hearing in person after he touched down at Heathrow Airport on a flight from Thailand this morning.

Wearing a denim baseball cap, glasses, white T-shirt and checked scarf, he was met by eight uniformed officers. He smiled at the throng of waiting press photographers but looked tired from his three-day international merry-go-round as he was led through immigration.

He had been released from jail in Vietnam on Tuesday after serving most of a three-year sentence for molesting two young girls aged 10 and 11 and has spent the past 72 hours in failed attempts to avoid being flown home.

Rajeev Shetty, a solicitor representing the Metropolitan Police, told the court that the force were applying for a notification order that would require Glitter to register as a sex offender under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

He said that the conditions that needed to be satisfied were that Glitter had been convicted of a relevant offence in a country outside the UK and that the offence took place after September 1997.

He added that a sentence of three years in prison had the offence been committed in this country would have required him to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Mr Corker told the court that he had only been able to spend an hour with his client this morning and asked for an interim order of six weeks to be served to give him time to prepare his client's answer to the police application.

Thursday, AUGUST 21

Gary Glitter will fly back home to England tonight ending a chaotic 48-hour bid to dodge tough new British sex laws, police in Thailand said today.

Police Major General Phongdej Chaiprawat could not confirm exactly when Glitter, who was freed from a Vietnam jail on Tuesday, would arrive.

The first flight to London leaves Thai capital Bangkok at around 1am tomorrow (Friday) and lands at Heathrow at 7am.

Glitter, 64, will be welcomed by a party of more than 30 cops who will demand he puts his autograph on the sex offenders register. He may also have to hand over his passport.

The pop perv's hopes of avoiding the UK's new sex offender controls finally ran out last night when officials at Hong Kong's airport refused to allow him entry and put him on a plane straight back to Thailand.

Thai authorities had already denied the creepy crooner permission to stay in their country when he stopped over en route from Vietnam to London the day before.

At least 17 other countries have also refused to offer sanctuary.

And when the world's most unwanted man touched back down in Bangkok this morning he was ordered to book a ticket back to the UK.

An official said: "Thailand is not allowing him to enter the country and Hong Kong is turning him back so there is no choice for him now."

Once back in the UK Glitter, real name Paul Francis Gadd, will be kept under the highest level of surveillance and be visited weekly by police and probation staff.

If he breaks the terms of his registration he could face a prison sentence of up to five years.

BACKGROUND

Gadd was arrested in 2005 after the News of the World tracked him to seaside resort Vung Tau. He could have faced the firing squad for having sex with a child.

But after paying compensation to his two young victims, aged 10 and 12, he was convicted on lesser molestation charges.

He was released after serving two years and nine months of a prison sentence.