‘Gary Glitter’ Misses Passport Rendezvous

Convicted British sex offender Paul Francis Gadd failed to appear at a scheduled meeting Tuesday with municipal foreign police Chief Pol Pithey.

Pol Pithey said he told the former pop singer, widely known as “Gary Glitter,” over the weekend to come to his office Tuesday to pick up his British passport, which had been confiscated.

Gadd’s lawyer, Ouk Ry, said he would pick up the passport today. He said he did not know if Gadd would be with him. When asked if Gadd had fled Cambodia, Ouk Ry would not comment.

Police took Gadd’s passport Saturday after questioning him about why he had not registered with the government after staying in Cambodia longer than six months. On Monday, police confirmed with the British Embassy that the passport was valid.

A Cambodian man at Gadd’s apartment said Tuesday afternoon that a friend of Gadd’s picked him up early Tuesday mor­ning. Gadd was expected to re­turn to the apartment, the man said.

Minister of Women’s Affairs Mu Sochua said Monday she hopes to have Gadd expelled from the country because of his 1999 conviction in Britain on 54 counts of downloading pornographic photographs of children. Gadd served two months of a four-month sentence in a British prison.

“This is a moral issue. It is a pre­ventative measure,” Mu Soch­ua said Monday.

Cambodia’s immigration law allows the government to deport people with criminal backgrounds, Pol Pithey said.

Authorities are waiting for a copy of Gadd’s criminal record from the British Embassy.

Gadd rose to fame as a “glam rock” singer in the 1970s and has sold about 20 million records. He moved to Cuba after his release from prison, but was later expelled by Cuban authorities. His name remains on the British sex offenders register.

His British passport, examined Tuesday, shows he first came to Cambodia in May 1997. He bought a one-year visa in October 2001. Gadd told police he was in Phnom Penh looking to start a business, Pol Pithey said.

 

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