THAILAND: Gary Glitter escorted to restricted area by Thai authorites as he refuses to board a UK-bound plane

Record ID: 644705

  • Title: THAILAND: Gary Glitter escorted to restricted area by Thai authorites as he refuses to board a UK-bound plane
  • Date: 27th August 2008
  • Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (AUGUST 20, 2008) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) VARIOUS OF BRITISH ROCK STAR GARY GLITTER LEAVING TRANSIT HOTEL AND BEING ESCORTED BY THAI AUTHORITIES GLITTER WALKING WITH AUTHORITIES MORE OF GLITTER/PHOTGRAPHERS GLITTER WALKING
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA767I5Q6V5I64WOZ09IGIMWAO3
  • Story Text: British rock star Gary Glitter is escorted to a restricted area in the Bangkok airport after refusing to board a flight London. Glitter arrived in Bangkok from Vietnam, after being released from prison after three years.
    The fallen 64-year-old star, whose real name is Paul Gadd, flew to Bangkok after being booted out of the communist southeast Asian country on Tuesday (August 19), the day of his release.
    He had a connecting flight to London but refused to board the plane, fearful of the media hounding he is almost certain to receive in Britain, where he has already served jail time for child pornography offences.
    Major General Pongdej Chaiprawaj, head of the immigration police at Bangkok airport, said Glitter had faked an ear condition that would have prevented him from flying, claimed to have tinnitus in his ears and declined to board the flight to London.

    "The measure is that, he will be forced if he refuse to get onboard again, because he is allowed to disembark. According to our law, he is unwanted. So, he has to leave," Pongdej adding that Glitter was being shadowed by Thai police to prevent him from entering the country.
    Glitter had a series of altercations with British embassy and Bangkok immigration officials after being refused entry to Thailand as an "undesirable", leaving him stuck in limbo in a transit lounge called the Louis Tavern.
    British newspapers, who had reporters on the plane with Glitter when he left Vietnam, said he had collapsed in a bedroom at the Tavern, complaining of heart problems and demanding to be taken to hospital.
    Glitter served his sentence at Thu Duc prison, 190 km (120 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. He left the prison on Tuesday afternoon in a police jeep with blacked-out windows before being put on the flight to Bangkok.
    He shielded his face from photographers on the plane with a baseball cap and scarf.
    He rose to fame in the 1970s with his trademark bouffant hairstyle, high heels and "glam rock" hits such as "Rock and Roll (Parts 1 & 2)", "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I am)".
    ENDS.
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