Gary Glitter has denied having sex with a collection of young girls in Vietnam and told police he was just teaching them English, according to Vietnamese press reports.

The former glam rock star, real name Paul Gadd, told investigators in the resort town of Vung Tau, southern Vietnam, that he came to the country looking for tourism opportunities and was duped by the girls, who said they were in their twenties, state-run newspapers said.

"When they met me, they all told me that they were older than 20," the official Thanh Nien newspaper quoted Glitter as saying. The former pop star, 61, also said he had been helping the girls to "learn to speak English", the newspaper reported.

Vietnamese police would only confirm that Glitter has denied the allegations made against him. Glitter was arrested as he tried to leave Vietnam for Bangkok in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday. He is accused of having sex with two girls, one of whom was 12 years old. Conflicting reports allege that up to five teenage girls have admitted having sex with the singer.

"In the questioning session Monday, he denied that he committed lewd acts with the girls," a police officer from Ba Ria-Vung Tau province told the Associated Press news agency.

Police today confirmed that Glitter will be held for three more days as questioning continues. He can be held for nine days by the police before they have to ask for more time to question him. He has not been charged with a crime.

A separate newspaper story today said Glitter had demanded a British lawyer, turning down a list of Vietnamese lawyers provided by the British Consulate in Hanoi. A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined to comment.

Police had been searching for Glitter since he fled his rented home in Vung Tau on last week amid allegations that he committed lewd acts with young girls. Under Vietnamese law, sexual contact with a minor under the age of 18 carries a range of penalties, depending on the charge.

Child rape carries the maximum penalty of death by firing squad. If Gadd is charged and convicted of sex with a 12-year-old, regardless of whether he had her consent, that would still be considered child rape under Vietnamese law, Vietnamese police have said.

If he is imprisoned, the former singer will find Vietnamese jails very different from Horfield Prison in Bristol, where he served two months in 1999 for possessing "hard-core, sick and degrading" images of children. Vietnamese jails are notorious for their squalor, harsh treatment of prisoners and lack of attention to sanitation, hygiene and food.

Even if he is not prosecuted in Vietnam, Glitter could face charges in this country if he ever returned under Britain’s "sex tourism" laws — the Sex Offences Act 1996.

A Home Office spokeswoman said that British police could ask for the file on any alleged sexual offence that is recognised in this country to be sent to them for consideration. "We would always prefer someone is prosecuted in the country where the offence is committed, but if not we have the power to look into it here," she said.

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