Cambodian police urge Gary Glitter to leave

Cambodian police are urging disgraced pop star Gary Glitter to leave the country voluntarily, saying he was not wanted there.

He has been living in Phnom Penh for the last six months, but has become a headache for Cambodian authorities.

While police say they cannot evict him because he has not broken any laws in Cambodia, the government is concerned his presence highlights the country's reputation of being a haven for paedophiles.

Glitter - real name Paul Francis Gadd - would "make things much easier" if he left the country voluntarily, said Lieutenant Colonel Pol Pithey, chief of the Municipal Police's Foreigners Department.

Police had confiscated his passport but returned it last week after he gave an undertaking that he would not travel outside Phnom Penh without first informing officers.

They also questioned him after they were tipped off about his 1999 conviction.

News photographers said Glitter was believed to be hiding in his Phnom Penh guesthouse and had a hired motorcycle taxi driver to buy food for him.

"There is no prohibition on him not to leave," said Pol Pithey.

Glitter, 57, was convicted in 1999 of possessing pornographic pictures of children, and served half of a four-month sentence before being released.