Glitter up for early release from Vietnam jail
Disgraced rocker Gary Glitter, convicted of molesting two Vietnamese girls, may be released early from his three-year jail sentence, a prison chief said today.
Glitter, 62, is on a list of inmates being considered for early release as part of next month’s Lunar New Year celebrations, said Tran Huu Thong, director of the Thu Duc detention centre, where Glitter is being held.
Vietnam traditionally reduces the terms of inmates with good prison records at that time of year.
If his sentence is reduced, Glitter could be released as early as May.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was convicted in March 2006 of committing obscene acts with children. The incidents involved two girls aged 10 and 11 from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.
Under Vietnamese law, prisoners can be nominated for early release if they have behaved well and their fellow inmates recommend it. Nearly everyone in the jail voted for Glitter’s early release, Thong said.
“He meets all the criteria,” Thong said of Glitter, the ageing British glam-rock star whose 1970s hits included Leader Of The Gang and Do You Want to Touch?
Nearly all the prisoners recommended for early release receive it, Thong said. Under Vietnamese law, however, prisoners must serve at least half their term, meaning Glitter cannot be released before May.
Glitter was arrested in November 2005 in Vung Tau, where he had been living for about six months.
Glitter hit his musical peak in the 1970s and his crowd-pleasing anthem Rock And Roll (Part 2) is still played at sporting events.
He was convicted in Britain in 1999 of possessing child pornography and served half of a four-month jail term.
He later went to Cambodia but was expelled in 2002. Cambodian officials did not specify a crime or file charges against him.
