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Glitter gets three years for obscene acts

A Vietnamese court Friday sentenced former rocker Gary Glitter to three years in prison for obscene acts with two young Vietnamese girls, and a melee erupted in the courtroom when Glitter shouted “I’m innocent” after the verdict.Reporters and onlookers, allowed into the courthouse in southern Ba Ria-Vung province to hear the verdict following the closed two-day trial, pressed toward Glitter
/ Source: The Associated Press

A Vietnamese court Friday sentenced former rocker Gary Glitter to three years in prison for obscene acts with two young Vietnamese girls, and a melee erupted in the courtroom when Glitter shouted “I’m innocent” after the verdict.

Reporters and onlookers, allowed into the courthouse in southern Ba Ria-Vung province to hear the verdict following the closed two-day trial, pressed toward Glitter in a scene of pandemonium as police fended them off and escorted him out of the building.

“I haven’t done anything. I’m innocent. It’s a conspiracy,” Glitter shouted.

Glitter, 61, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of committing obscene acts with two girls, ages 10 and 11, at his rented seaside villa in southern Vung Tau last year. He was then sentenced to three years in prison, followed by deportation from Vietnam.

The court, in its verdict, cited graphic testimony from the girls that Glitter had fondled and molested them and took showers with them naked in his rented home and in nearby hotels.

Former glam rocker Glitter, a 1970s pop icon in Britain famed for his sequined jumpsuits, platform heels and bouffant wigs, sported a more conservative look for his trial: black clothes and a red bandanna on his head.

Glitter, who looked visibly thinner since his arrest, has been held at Phuoc Co prison outside Vung Tau since November.

He has been in police custody since Nov. 19, when he was caught at the Ho Chi Minh City airport trying to board a flight for Bangkok. Police confiscated his laptop, which police say had hundreds of pornographic pictures on it.

Glitter, who hit his musical peak in the 1970s, had hits with “Leader of the Gang” and “Do You Wanna Touch” but is perhaps best known for his crowd-pleasing rock anthem “Rock and Roll (Parts 1&2),” which is still played at sporting events.

His fall from grace began with a conviction in Britain in 1999 for possessing child pornography. He served half of a four-month jail term.

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