Glitter refuses to leave Thailand

Gary Glitter has been threatened with deportation to Vietnam after refusing to leave Bangkok, reports say.

The 64-year-old, who was released from prison in Vietnam yesterday after serving a three-year sentence for child molestation, has refused to board a connecting flight to London from Bangkok, claiming to be suffering from chest pains.

A doctor declared Glitter well enough to travel in the Bangkok airport transit lounge and prescribed him painkillers for a minor chest inflammation. However, the former glam rock singer since checked himself into airside hotel the Louis Tavern.

Immigration official Lt Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit said: "We will have to repatriate him back to Vietnam, because he is on our watch list as persona non grata. Thai immigration cannot let him enter."

Maj Gen Pongdej Chaiprawaj added: "He is banned from entering because he was jailed and he could pose a threat to domestic morality. He is a transit passenger and it is the responsibility of the airline to take him to his final destination."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith insisted that Glitter would not be allowed to leave the UK upon his return.

"I want Gary Glitter to be controlled whilst he's here and I don't want him to be able to go anywhere else in the world in order to abuse children," she said.