Commentary: Police powerless despite minister's vow

The pantomime scenes that have accompanied Gary Glitter's return have obscured the rather less palatable truth that there is now little that can be done to restrict his activities.

Today's court order means that he will have to sign the sex offenders register within 72 hours, giving the police his name - hardly a secret - address, date of birth and National Insurance number. That, however, will effectively be the sum total of the curbs that he faces, despite a headline-grabbing promise this week by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that Glitter "will be" controlled and that he "shouldn't be travelling anywhere else in the world".

The gap between such ministerial rhetoric and the reality is wide. While Glitter is required to notify police if he plans to go abroad for more than three days, the Government will be unable to prevent him travelling - and it cannot do much to control his behaviour while he is here. This is because the legal powers that do exist to impose foreign travel bans can be used only if an offender's behaviour within the past six months has shown that they present an ongoing risk of serious harm.

In a case such as Glitter's, it means the police will be powerless to act.

Equally disturbing is the weakness of the requirement to notify police about overseas travel of more than three days. As the children's charity Ecpat highlighted this week, this provision leaves a serious loophole which allows an offender to travel abroad to abuse children without telling police about their trip because they can return within three days. Offenders could also just disappear while abroad without the knowledge of either the authorities in Britain or their new destination.

Because there is no recent evidence that Glitter poses a threat it would not be possible to impose a sexual offences prevention order, which can be used to bar paedophiles from specific activities, such as going near schools or play areas.

In a rush to close these gaps, Ms Smith this week promised new legislation - dubbed "Glitter's law" - but whatever changes do follow will leave the former pop star with weeks and possibly months to do much as he pleases.