Glitter forced to fly home after deportation sting

Gary Glitter has agreed to return to Britain after being caught in a sting that resulted in him being served deportation papers in Hong Kong.

The paedophile and former pop star, who served nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for molesting children, returned to Thailand today after being handed the papers and turned away by Hong Kong authorities.

But the Evening Standard can reveal he was allowed to fly from Thailand to Hong Kong so that he could be served with the papers. The 64-year-old, travelling under his real name Paul Gadd, was being kept in a transit lounge at Bangkok airport today.

Thai police want him on the first available direct flight back to London. A space is being held for him on flight TG 901, which departs at 1.10am local time and lands at Heathrow Terminal 3 at 6am tomorrow. Glitter has been desperate to avoid returning to Britain, where he will have to sign the sex offenders register. Last night he appealed to the Foreign Office to help him out of international limbo.

But an airport source said he had fallen into a trap by boarding the plane to Hong Kong: "Gary Glitter was allowed to fly to Hong Kong. It was a trap and he fell for it. He was given the deportation papers as soon as he touched down.

"They can now legally make him get on that plane back to the UK, or put him in a detention centre. Thai immigration police colluded with Hong Kong to make this happen as neither country wants him. Consular officials are speaking to him."

It emerged today that 19 countries would refuse him entry although Glitter has reportedly suggested that he could go to Sri Lanka or Singapore. With an estimated £5 million fortune there are fears that he could bribe his way into a country.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed: "We have been informed by the Hong Kong authorities that Mr Gadd was denied entry to Hong Kong and has returned to Bangkok."

He was released from a Vietnamese prison on Tuesday having served two years and nine months of a three-year sentence for abusing two girls aged 10 and 11. The terms of his release state that he would be deported back to Britain but he refused to board a connecting flight to Heathrow, claiming ill health.

Glitter was convicted of downloading child pornography in Britain in 1999 and served two months of a fourmonth sentence. He went on to spend time living in Spain, Cuba and Vietnam.