Gary Glitter continued his lonely airport shuttle last night as Hong Kong authorities put him on a plane back to Thailand – and Thai immigration officials said they would be sending him straight to the UK.

After 48 hours travelling, including 20 hours in Bangkok airport and another 12 hours in the transit lounge at Hong Kong, it seemed that the international pariah was finally nearing the end of his travels.

Thai immigration officials confirmed last night that on arrival in Bangkok he would be detained as a deportee and put on the first available flight back to the UK.

The disgraced former rock star was released on Tuesday from a Vietnam jail, where he has served nearly three years for sexually assaulting two young girls. But his attempts to thwart deportation to Britain have become increasingly farcical.

Times Archive, 1973: The Gary Glitter Show

Mr Glitter is the most successful rock phenomenon of the moment at the Reading Pop Festival

Related Links

• Friends, family and the world have shunned Glitter

• Paedophiles may be mad or bad. But not both

• New sex offender laws as Glitter skips flight home

Multimedia

• Gary Glitter refuses to return to UK

Thailand declared him persona non grata when he tried to enter the country during a stopover on the way to Heathrow and his presence was no more desirable when he eventually flew to Hong Kong.

While on board, he had tried to arrange a VIP welcome in the Chinese territory, calling ahead to the airport and saying: "I am quite famous and hard of hearing. Please can you arrange for an escort for me at the other end?"

When asked why he was making the trip, Glitter, who said he had a heart condition while in Bangkok, was quoted as saying: "I am travelling to Hong Kong for medical treatment."

But when he arrived, with the press pack in tow, his anticipated welcome never eventuated. Instead, Chinese immigration officials questioned him for more than two hours, then refused him permission to enter the country. He spent the night and the next morning in a room in the transit lounge before eventually boarding a plane back to Thailand.

When he does arrive back in Heathrow the singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, will be met by police and told that he was being placed on the sex offenders’ register.

He will join 30,000 people on the register and will be required to give police his name, date of birth, home address and national insurance number. He will be kept under the highest level of surveillance and be visited weekly by police and probation staff. If he breaks the terms of his registration he could face a prison sentence of up to five years.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• 6 reasons not to give gifts this Christmas
• Remembrance Day: All the lonely heroes