Gary Glitter loses child molestation appeal

An appeals court in Vietnam on today upheld the conviction and three-year prison sentence of rocker Gary Glitter for molesting young girls at a seaside villa.

The court "rejects the appeal of the accused and sentences him to three years in prison for obscene acts with children," said Truong Vinh Thuy, one of three judges hearing Glitter's appeal.

The 62-year-old singer - famed in the 1970s as an outrageous act decked out in bouffant wigs and sequin jumpsuits - had been found guilty by a court on March 3 for committing obscene acts with girls ages 10 and 11.

Standing before the judge today at the People's Supreme Court of Appeals in Ho Chi Minh City, Glitter clasped his hands behind him and shook his head several times as he listened to a court translator during the 40-minute verdict.

"There was no defence allowed!" he screamed to reporters as he left the courthouse.

"I didn't do anything!" he said and yelled an obscenity at journalists before he was put in a military green police truck and driven away.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was accused of kissing, fondling, and "engaging in other physical acts" with the girls at his rented villa in the seaside city of Vung Tau, about 80 miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.

He has maintained his innocence, saying he was teaching the girls English at his home and considered them "like his grandchildren."

He has admitted to police that the 11-year-old girl slept in his room because she was afraid of ghosts, but denied committing any lewd acts, his attorney Le Thanh Kinh said.

Glitter said he was a victim of a conspiracy by the media, witnesses and the victims, Kinh told reporters outside the courthouse.

He accused British tabloids such as The Sun and The News of the World of "damaging his reputation," and claimed "the evidence relating to his case looked like evidence from the newspapers," Kinh said yesterday.

Glitter, who hit his musical peak in the 1970s, had hits with "Leader of the Gang" and "Do You Wanna Touch Me," but is perhaps best known for his crowd-pleasing anthem "Rock and Roll (Part 2)," which is still played at sporting events. Over the decades, his musical career slowly faded as he became passe by the 1990s.

In 1997 he brought his computer to be repaired, and thousands of hardcore pornographic images of children were found on it. He was convicted in Britain in 1999 of possessing child pornography, and served half of a four-month jail term.

He later went to Cambodia and in 2002 was expelled from that country, though Cambodian officials did not specify a crime or file charges.