Gary Glitter, the disgraced rock star, has been released from jail in Vietnam and is on his way back to Britain after serving nearly three years for sexually assaulting two young girls.

The convicted paedophile, best known for hits such as 'Leader of the Gang' was released unceremoniously from Thu Duc prison, 90 miles north east of Ho Chi Minh city and driven to Tan Son Nhat airport for deportation.

His lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, said Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was free to live anywhere outside of Vietnam. However athorities in Thailand, alerted to his impending arrival en route to Heathrow were expected to refuse him entry.

Sudarat Sereewat, a member of the Thai National Human Rights Committee and also Secretary General of FACE - Fight Against Child Exploitation - said she would be at the aircraft when it landed together with Thai Immigration Police.

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"We are aware of his passport number and will happily assist Mr Gadd to the intended destination in case he has second thoughts about stopping off here," she said.

Flights from Tan Son Nhat airport to London stop in either Bangkok or Doha, giving Glitter, 64, the opportunity to disembark in either country. Recently he has said he wanted to live in either Hong Kong or Singapore, but was concerned about his health.

"He does not have any sentence to serve in London," said Mr Kinh. "He is a free man from today. The only problem is the countries he wants to go to because he has to get a visa.

"He is looking forward to coming back. He is OK but he is worried about his health. He has problems with his hearing and his heart." However, he said, "If he wants to stop whever he wants to he can do that. If he wants to, he can change flights".

Glitter, 64, had tried to book first class tickets but was ordered to travel economy class.

Qatar Airways refused to take him and a second choice of First Class Thai airlines via Bangkok was rejected by the Vietnamese authorities who insisted he travel tourist class.

The People's Socialist Republic of Vietnam considered that Glitter should not be treated in any way as a star, even though he had served his time, and had the cash to pay for it.

Gadd was released shortly after 11.30 am local time accompanied by Vietnamese police and a representative from the British Consulate in Ho Chi Minh.

Mr Kinh said that he expected his client would be travelling all the way to London but that he was 'unhappy' that we was travelling tourist class.

Once in the UK, Glitter will be placed on the sex offenders' register for life. He is said by police sources to be expected to go to a hostel set in its own grounds in the West Country.

The British authorities, however, are powerless to place a foreign travel ban or a sexual offences prevention order on Glitter to stop him going abroad or approaching youngsters in this country.

Instead he will join more than 30,000 people on the sex offenders' register, which requires him to give them his name, date of birth, home address and national insurance number.

Police take a photograph of the offender, who must re-register in person each year at a police station. He will be subject to monitoring and if he moves house or stays anywhere else for more than a few days he will have to notify police.

The 1970s rock star was arrested in November 2005 as he tried to catch a flight to Bangkok, after being accused of sexually assaulting the two girls, aged 11 and nine, in Vietnam. He was sentenced to three years in prison but this was reduced by three months in a Vietnamese New Year amnesty.

He had been arrested in Britain in 1997 after thousands of images of child pornograhy were found on nhis computer after he took it to be repaired. He was sentenced to four months in prison but after serving two, he moved to South-East Asia.

Glitter, who reportedly earns more than £50,000 a year from overseas royalties on his 1970s hits has spoken of plans to release a new album, or write his autobiography.

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