Cambodia deports child porn offender Glitter after police checks

Gary Glitter, the former pop star convicted of child pornography offences, has been deported from Cambodia.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, is understood to have been flown to Thailand on 28 December. Glitter's lawyers are understood to be challenging the deportation. The Foreign Office said the reason for the former singer's deportation was unclear.

Glitter was convicted in Britain in 1999 of downloading child pornography from the internet and served half of a four-month sentence.

More than a year ago he moved to Phnom Penh, which has gained a reputation as a centre for paedophilia, and Cambodian police placed him under surveillance.

The country's minister for women's affairs, Mu Sochua, had called for Glitter to be expelled because of his conviction in England but the government said that would not happen unless he broke Cambodian law.

Stephen Jakobi, of Fair Trials Abroad, said Glitter might face problems challenging the deportation. "Once you have been deported it is hard to challenge it from another country," he said. "As a foreign national I can't see that he really has any claim to be in a foreign country."

Commenting on the legal system in Cambodia, Mr Jakobi said: "It is really rather difficult getting the proper legal processes in Cambodia, like a lot of East Asian countries with the exception of Singapore.

"As a country it is in the same sort of position as the old Soviet bloc countries where all the right processes are not always in place."