Glitter seeks new jail term cut

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Pop singer Gary Glitter is to seek another reduction of his three-year child molestation sentence in Vietnam.

Glitter, real name Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of the sexual abuse of two Vietnamese girls in March 2006.

A court cut his term by three months under a national amnesty in February, moving forward the 62-year-old's release date to August 2008.

Glitter's lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, said he plans to submit a request for another six-month reduction.

He will place the request during an amnesty to mark Liberation Day on 30 April.

Vietnam traditionally reduces the sentences of inmates with good prison conduct records with amnesties on special occasions.

"My client will certainly submit a letter asking for another six-month reduction of his prison term once the Vietnamese authorities announce the plan for amnesty on Liberation Day," said his lawyer

Glitter has been behind bars since November 2005 and was found guilty in March last year of committing obscene acts with two girls aged 10 and 11 from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.

Under Vietnamese law, Glitter must serve at least half his term, including time in custody before his trial, meaning his earliest possible release date would be this May.

When he is released Glitter will be deported either to the UK or any other nation that will accept him, the court decided.

Glitter was convicted of possessing child pornography in the UK in 1999 and served half of a four-month jail sentence.

He later went to Cambodia, which permanently expelled him in 2002.