Glitter returns to face music

Gary Glitter arrived back in Britain yesterday after eight years and was told he must sign the sex offenders register for life, despite a plea from his solicitor who argued that the disgraced singer's child sex convictions should not be recognised in this country.

After a three-day saga in which the convicted paedophile travelled around Asia attempting to avoid deportation to the UK, he finally landed at Heathrow airport at 7am and was swiftly taken away by police for questioning. Just hours after Paul Francis Gadd, Glitter's real name, arrived from Bangkok, his solicitor, David Corker, appeared before a judge and claimed that the 64-year-old should not be put on the register for life because he was the victim of an "appalling" and "unfair" trial in Vietnam, which amounted to a "travesty of justice".

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Judge David Simpson rejected his plea, saying that Glitter, having been jailed for three years for a sex offence, fulfilled the criteria and must be put on the sex offenders register indefinitely. However, a loophole was revealed after the hearing. Despite his conviction for molesting two young girls while abroad, Glitter can still leave Britain without notifying the police if his trip overseas is for no more than three days. A flight to Bangkok takes 10 hours.

A spokeswoman for the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, a British police agency that works in the UK and abroad, said: "We are having to amend the legislation because you can get to a lot of places and back in three days. We are playing catch-up to close that loophole and it is a concern that it is there. Work is already in place to change the law so that the three-day window is closed."

A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that this was the case: "At the moment we can place Foreign Travel Orders on convicted sex offenders which stop them going abroad once on the sex offenders register, but they have to be applied for through the magistrates' courts and only last six months.

"We plan to extend that period and to introduce the immediate removal of an offender's passport. These things are going to come in, but they are not in place at the moment. We hope they will be introduced as soon as possible."

Glitter's arrival in the country appeared to signal the end of a farcical and ultimately fruitless attempt to avoid returning. Following his release from Thu Duc prison in Vietnam on Tuesday, he flew to Thailand and then Hong Kong and tried to enter each, without success, before agreeing on Thursday night to come back to England.

His flight, TG910, landed at Heathrow's Terminal 3 at 7.09am yesterday and the singer, still wearing the same blue cap and chequered scarf that he has sported since his release from prison, was taken off the plane by police officers.

Pursued by photographers, he was whisked past a queue of returning holidaymakers to a private room in the airport and was questioned by immigration officers and the police.

He avoided the throngs of journalists waiting in the arrivals lounge. Most of them moved to Uxbridge magistrates' court, in north-west London, where a hastily arranged hearing was to take place at 10am. Glitter himself did not appear in court, leaving Mr Corker to appeal on his behalf.

He asked that his client be placed on the sex offenders register temporarily, saying that the court should not "recognise or legitimise" the conviction of the Vietnamese court, which, in Mr Corker's words, "falls far, far below what is acceptable for western European standards of justice".

The judge disagreed and ordered that Glitter be put on the register for the rest of his life. The former pop singer now has three days in which to sign the register and 21 days in which to appeal against the decision.

Outside court, Mr Corker addressed the media. He said: "Mr Gadd is pleased to be back in this country. The last few days, as you know, he has been travelling around Asia and that time was not wasted."

The singer claimed to have heart and hearing problems earlier this week and now says he thinks he might have tuberculosis. Mr Corker said: "Mr Gadd is not a well man, he needs medical attention and is also, unsurprisingly, concerned about his safety.

"These past few days have enabled the Metropolitan Police and I, on his behalf, to put into place a proper procedure for his protection and his well-being. I'm pleased to say that's in place.

"Mr Gadd is pleased to be back for another reason. He is pleased to be back because for the first time he can appear before a court of justice. He tells me that his trial in Vietnam... was a charade, was a travesty of justice."

However, by the end of the hearing, Glitter was still at Heathrow's Terminal 3. And his solicitor refused to say where he would go from there.

How the sex offenders register works

Gary Glitter now has three days to put his name on the sex offenders register. He must do this by attending his local police station, where he will give his name, home address, date of birth and national insurance number. It also obliges him to notify the police of any changes to his name or home address.

In addition, he must tell the police, three days in advance, if he intends to stay at any address, other than his nominated home address, for more than seven days.

The singer must inform police of any plans he has to travel abroad for longer than three days, which means he can go abroad for three days or less without telling the police.

For trips of longer than three days he must tell the police of his plans seven days in advance, if they are known to him.

If details of the trip are not known seven days in advance – if it is a last- minute trip, for example – he must give the police at least 24 hours, notice of his intention to leave the country.

If police now apply for a sexual offences prevention order, Glitter may also have to agree to conditions on his life which could include being banned from owning a computer or accessing the internet, as well as going near playgrounds, schools, swimming pools or anywhere else that children are likely to be. A Foreign Travel Order may also be applied for. This would mean that Glitter may have to surrender his passport for up to six months at a time – preventing him from travelling abroad.

As well as preventive measures, being on the sexual offenders register could allow Glitter access to rehabilitation. He may be given counselling and treatment tailored to the needs of sex offenders.