Glitter fakes illness in Bangkok to miss UK flight

Bangkok, Aug 20: Shamed rocker Gary Glitter was stuck at Bangkok airport on Wednesday after faking illness to avoid boarding a flight to Britain after nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for child sex abuse, Thai police said. 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, 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. "He claimed to have tinnitus in his ears and declined to board the flight to London," Pongdej told Reuters, adding that Glitter was being shadowed by Thai police to prevent him from entering the country. "He is banned from entering because he was jailed and he could pose a threat to domestic morality," he said. "He is a transit passenger and it is the responsibility of the airline to take him to his final destination." 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. Staff at the Tavern said he was still there on Wednesday morning, refusing to check out and claiming he was unwell. 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)." Bureau Report