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LONDON: Former glam rocker and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter has returned to Thailand after being refused entry to Hong Kong, the British foreign ministry said Thursday.
"We have been informed by the Hong Kong authorities that Mr Gadd was denied entry to Hong Kong and has returned to Bangkok," a Foreign Office spokesman said, referring to the singer, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd.
"Mr Gadd was in contact with us seeking consular assistance," he said.
Chinese authorities told London that they denied the 64-year-old entry at 11:00 pm local time (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.
Thai officials on Thursday said they would boot out Glitter once again.
"He must definitely be coming back to Bangkok, since Hong Kong refused to let him in," Colonel Voravat Amornvivat, a spokesman for the immigration service, told AFP.
"We will have to expel him either back to Vietnam or Britain, or another country where he wants to go," he said. "I don't know his arrival time or flight number, but I think he will land mid-afternoon because his name was not on any of the passenger lists this morning," he said.
Glitter arrived in Bangkok late Tuesday after being deported from Vietnam, where he had just finished serving nearly three years in prison for committing obscene acts with two girls aged 11 and 12.
He was then denied entry to Thailand because of his conviction, and Thai authorities had initially said he would be sent to London.
Thailand deported Glitter to Hong Kong after he refused to board a plane to his native Britain, complaining of chest pains.
A doctor pronounced him fit to fly, saying he was suffering only minor inflammation in his chest. When he refused to board the plane to Britain, Thai authorities agreed for him to go to Hong Kong.
On the flight from Vietnam to Thailand, Glitter continued to profess his innocence and claimed to be happy to return home, according to British media.
"England is my home. It's where my heart is and family are. I can't wait to see them. God bless them all," he was quoted as saying in The Sun.
"God, am I happy to be leaving Vietnam and that jail. I should never have been in there."
In Thailand, immigration authorities said Glitter had broken the law by spending more than 12 hours in transit without a visa or an onward flight, giving them the right to deport him.
Britain has not announced any outstanding charges against the singer, who became famous for his flamboyant bouffant wigs and silver jumpsuits, but British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said he should not be allowed to leave once he returns.
Glitter had several hits in the 1970s including "I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am!)" and "Do You Wanna Touch Me?"
The anthemic 1972 hit "Rock and Roll" is still often chanted in British and US sports stadiums.
He was arrested in Britain in 1997 after he took his computer to a repair shop, where hardcore child pornographic material was found on its hard drive.
He was sentenced in 1999 to four months in prison, of which he served two.
Keen to avoid the media, Glitter reportedly moved to Cuba and then Cambodia, where he was expelled in 2002, allegedly for trawling for underage sex.
Having settled in communist Vietnam, where a British newspaper reported he was living with an underage girl, he was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport in November 2005 while trying to leave for Thailand.
In March 2006 he was sentenced to three years in prison, the minimum term under Vietnamese law, which was later cut by three months.
The singer maintained his innocence, blamed a media conspiracy and claimed he was teaching the girls English and allowed them to stay overnight because they were scared of ghosts.
- AFP/yb
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