TheGlitterHasGone

First the disclaimer, I am no fan of Garry Glitter. He has never appealed to me as either a man nor as a musician. I always found him more than a little strange to watch during his very successful singing career.

Glitter has just been released from his imprisonment after serving his prison term in Vietnam. He is a man who is unwanted virtually everywhere.

The Vietnamese prison sentence followed a very similar incarceration for an almost identical conviction in Thailand. After his expulsion from Vietnam 19 countries are understood to have signaled that he is an undesirable to all of them and none of them will allow him in.

If he comes back to Britain he will have to register on the sex offenders list and be closely monitored for an extended period.

Glitter's sentence called for him to be deported on his release, and if he is returned to Vietnam, he will almost certainly be put back on a flight to London.

But Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, is fighting to remain overseas. "I'm not going back to London," he said on his arrival in Thailand. "You can't make me. I've done my time. I'm a free man."

The Thai government refused to force Glitter back on the plane, and the British police officer traveling with him admitted he had no authority to compel him to board the aircraft.

The British consulate in Ho Chi Minh City issued Glitter’s passport. His rights are the same as any British citizen, which means he is allowed to travel to any country that does not require a visa. But now that he’s been denied entry to Singapore and Hong Kong, his future is uncertain.

There are no outstanding charges against Glitter in the UK but the British Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith said Glitter should not be allowed to leave the country if he did return to these shores.

"We need to control him, and he will be controlled once he returns to this country," Smith said.

His crimes are all linked to Glitter being a pedophile. Despite our very natural detestation of this sad man and his dreadful crimes, are we not making ourselves into a baying mob if we give in to our natural but reprehensible instincts to keep punishing a man who has already served his sentence?

Yes, Glitter is an evil bastard who has to be closely watched wherever he turns up. But isn’t this beginning to look more like the witch hunt of a sick man than a lesson in justice?

You feel as though there’s a ducking stool poised ready or a rack being polished for Glitter. Surely the days of our burning people at the stake should be over or have we learned nothing at all?