THAILAND:Disgraced glam rocker Gary Glitter has left Bangkok for London, Britain's foreign office said, after Thailand and Hong Kong barred his entry following his release from a Vietnam prison for child sex abuse.
"He is on a flight from Thailand to Britain. We are not confirming any flight details," a foreign office spokesman said.
Thai immigration police detained the 64-year-old Briton earlier in the day after his Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong landed at Bangkok's international airport, a Reuters' witness said.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was ordered to leave Vietnam on Tuesday at the end of his three-year sentence but feigned ear and heart problems in Bangkok to miss a flight to London, apparently fearful of a hostile reception in Britain.
He was allowed to board a Thai Airways flight to Hong Kong late on Wednesday even though immigration police said he would be deported to London "as soon as possible".
Hong Kong authorities refused to let him in and put him back on a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok, where he has been declared persona non grata.
As well as Thailand and Hong Kong, he is officially blacklisted in Cambodia, where he spent several years in hiding before moving quietly to Vietnam.
The British press eventually unearthed him in 2005 in the southern resort town of Vung Tau. He tried to flee, but was arrested at the airport and convicted soon afterwards of having sex with two young girls. -