Vietnam releases Gary Glitter from prison, plans to deport him

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Vietnamese authorities have released British glam rocker Gary Glitter from prison, where he served nearly three years after being convicted of child molestation.

His lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, says Vietnamese authorities plan to deport Glitter immediately. Kinh has said that the former rock star did not want to return to the UK.

Prison director Tran Huu Thong says guards were transporting Glitter, 64, to the Ho Chi Minh City airport, about three hours away from the prison in Binh Thuan province.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted in March 2006 of on charges of molesting two girls, ages 10 and 11, from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau. He served two years and nine months of a three-year sentence.