Glitter: I'm not a paedo

Gary Glitter yesterday denied being a paedophile.

In his first interview since being jailed in March for sexually molesting two young girls, the disgraced pop singer claimed he allowed the youngsters into his bed only because they were 'scared of ghosts'.

Speaking in prison, Glitter - real name Paul Gadd - insisted: 'I haven't done anything.'

The 61-year-old said he had never knowingly slept with an underage girl.

'Not to my knowledge that she has been under age, no, I have not. I know the line to cross,' he added. 'It was only recently that I found out that underage is 18 in this country, OK? But I don't believe I slept with anybody under 18 in this country.'

When asked what his opinion would be of a middle-aged man who engaged in sexual acts with an 11-year-old, he said: 'Certainly it would be a crime ... I would be very angry about that.'

The Vietnamese girls told Glitter's trial he fondled and molested them in his villa. In his verdict the judge said Glitter committed many obscene acts with children 'in a disgusting and sick manner'.

The former Seventies glam rocker will be eligible for parole after serving a third of his three-year sentence.

Glitter left Britain after admitting possession of 4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused, and receiving a four-month jail sentence in November 1999.

If he returns he will be put back on the sex offenders' register and could face further charges under the Sex Offences Act 2003, which covers 'sex tourism' abroad.