Gary Glitter quizzed in Vietnam

Disgraced Seventies rock star Gary Glitter was today being questioned by Vietnamese authorities over allegations of “obscene acts with a child”.

The 61-year-old, real name Paul Francis Gadd, was arrested at Ho Chin Minh City airport yesterday as he tried to flee the country.

He left his rented home in the southern resort of Vung Tau a week ago amid allegations over his relationships with two teenage girls.

Authorities have interviewed a 15-year-old girl they found there and the singer was reported to have absconded with a second girl, aged 14, who described him as her husband.

Now Glitter has been taken back to Vung Tau where police said he had been detained for further investigation.

Today a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that we have been made aware of the detention of a British national in Vung Tau. Consular support is being provided.”

Glitter was stopped from leaving Vietnam when an immigration officer realised the name in his passport matched an article he had read about him being wanted.

It was unclear from reports whether Glitter had been travelling alone or was with the 14-year-old girl with whom he was believed to have gone on the run.

Police are conducting a criminal investigation into the singer.

He has been living in Vung Tau since March and has been seen with two Vietnamese girls who he later took home.

Earlier this week Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said Glitter had applied for permanent resident status in the country.

But a spokesman warned that “very strict legal measures” would be applied if there was evidence of a crime.

Under Vietnamese law, the charge of obscene acts with a minor carries a penalty of one to five years in jail.

Glitter was convicted in Britain in 1999 of possessing child pornography and served half of a four-month jail sentence before being released.

He later went to Cambodia and was permanently expelled in 2002, reportedly for trawling for underage sex.

According to reports in Britain he drove away from his home in Vung Tau on a motorbike with a 14-year-old girl who was said to have told neighbours: “I’m going away with my husband.”

The Sun reported that Glitter had been living with two girls in a beachside house with swimming pool which was once the home of a police chief.

While he was living there he was also said to have received visits from a third girl aged about 19.

He had grown a goatee beard and had taken to riding his motorbike around with a girl on the back.

But a British bar owner had warned him not to take his teenage “brides” in there with him.

Glitter is believed to have fled soon after being tracked down by a Sunday newspaper, which exposed his new lifestyle last weekend.

The News of the World was alerted to his presence in Vung Tau after he turned up at a music bar popular with Westerners and announced himself as he joined a band onstage.

When confronted he said: “Why do you people keep hounding me? I’ve served my sentence. I just want to be left alone.

“I’m not doing anything wrong here. I’m not hurting anyone. I’m living a quiet life. If people find out I’m here, I’ll move on again to another country. I’ll just keep moving until no-one can find me anymore.”

He added: “I’ve had 40 years of this. I just want to get on with my life now.”