By Sandra Laville and Sean O'Neill. Electronic Telegraph, UK. Jan. 12
THE disgraced pop star Gary Glitter was thought to be heading for a new life in Cuba last night after being smuggled out of jail in a police van with blacked-out windows.
The Prison Service confirmed that special arrangements had been made for Glitter for his own safety, after death threats from fellow inmates, who are understood to have threatened to attack the singer as soon as he left the high security section in which he was held.
But four hours after his clandestine departure, Glitter, who served half of his four month sentence, was giving a final performance in front of 80 members of the media outside Regents Park. Prisoner EW4473 was accorded rock star status at a press conference to express his remorse. Police closed
off a road in the Royal Park and stood by for his protection.
Wearing his trademark wig, make-up and a black velvet suit, he motioned for quiet and said: "I deeply regret doing what I was sent to prison for. I have served my time. I want to put it all behind me and get on with my life." His swansong included a few tears and a voice cracking with
emotion and took precisely three minutes, after which he was whisked away. He was understood to be heading for Heathrow and a flight to Cuba.
His solicitor, Henri Brandman, asked the media to hand in "written requests" before Glitter's statement, raising speculation that the child sex offender will sell his story.
Glitter was jailed for four months in November for possessing more than 4,000 "hardcore, sick and degrading" images of children downloaded from the internet. The trial judge labelled them child pornography of "the very worst possible type".
At about 8am yesterday 55-year-old Glitter - whose real name is Paul Gadd - was driven out of Horfield Prison, Bristol, in a marked police van with blacked-out windows having served two months of his sentence. A Prison Service spokesman said: "Due to serious concerns over the prisoner's
safety and public order around the prison, alternative arrangements were made for the release of Paul Gadd."
At noon two cars arrived at the Chester Road Gates of Regents Park, where 16 police officers were ready to provide protection and close off roads. Insp Derek Pollock, of the Royal Parks Police, defended the disruption to the park, saying it was necessary to close a road to ordinary traffic
because of the "massive press interest".
Mr Brandman stepped out first, telling any newspapers who wanted to deliver "written requests" to do it immediately as he would not be available afterwards. Soon afterwards Glitter opened the passenger door of a red Mercedes, took off his sunglasses and stepped out in front of the
phalanx of cameras to make his short statement.
The glam rock singer will be put on the sex offenders' register for seven years and has 14 days to register with police, but if he leaves the country he is not obliged to make contact with the police.
On his release a spokesman for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said: "Glitter might regret his actions but he should be aware that the young victims of child pornography are facing a life sentence of misery through the abuse they have suffered. This was
certainly not a victimless crime. Children as young as five are subjected to serious sexual assaults, including rape, to produce the foul material he wanted to look at."
Allison Brown, the woman who alleged that Glitter sexually assaulted her when she was a teenage fan, condemned the length of time he had served. "Eight weeks is just not enough and I think every parent in Britain would agree with me," said Mrs Brown, 34, a married mother of three
children.
"He should have got the maximum sentence of three years."
Glitter was acquitted by a jury at Bristol Crown court of eight charges of sexual assault against Mrs Brown. Mr Justice Butterfield, the trial judge, ordered the jury to regard her evidence with "extreme care" because she had a contract with the News of the World under which she stood
to gain £25,000 if Glitter was convicted.
Glitter is believed to have sold his house in Wedmore, Somerset, leaving only a home in London. There is speculation that he will move to Cuba with his girlfriend, Yudenia Sosa Martinez, 26.
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