Jan 10, 2007 12:54 pm US/Eastern
Gary Glitter May Get Early Prison Release
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ―
-
-
Glitter, 62, is on a list of inmates being considered for early release as part of next month's Lunar New Year celebrations in Vietnam. (File)
AP
Former British glam rocker Gary Glitter, convicted of molesting two Vietnamese girls, may be released early from his three-year sentence, a prison official said Wednesday.
Glitter, 62, is on a list of inmates being considered for early release as part of next month's Lunar New Year celebrations, said Tran Huu Thong, director of the Thu Duc detention center, where Glitter is being held. Vietnam traditionally reduces the terms of inmates with good prison records at that time of year.
If his sentence is reduced, Glitter could be released as early as May.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted in March 2006 of committing "obscene acts with children." The incidents involved two girls, ages 10 and 11, from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.
Under Vietnamese law, prisoners can be nominated for early release if they have behaved well and their fellow inmates recommend it. Nearly everyone in the jail voted for Glitter's early release, Thong said, and nearly all the prisoners recommended for early release receive it.
"He meets all the criteria," Thong said of Glitter, whose crowd-pleasing anthem "Rock and Roll (Part 2)" is still played at sporting events.
Glitter was arrested in November 2005 in Vung Tau, where he had been living for about six months.
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 but was expelled from that country in 2002. Cambodian officials didn't specify a crime or file charges against him.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments