Gary Glitter, the 1970s glam-rock star, will be on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life once he returns to Britain on Wednesday after his release from a Vietnamese jail.

He will be met at the airport by police after having served most of a three-year prison term imposed for molesting two girls aged 11 and 12. His sentence was cut to 27 months in a national amnesty. Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, is said by police sources to be expected to go to a hostel set in its own grounds in the West Country.

The British authorities, however, are powerless to place a foreign travel ban or a sexual offences prevention order on Glitter to stop him going abroad or approaching youngsters in this country.

Instead he will join more than 30,000 people on the sex offenders' register, which requires him to give them his name, date of birth, home address and national insurance number. Police take a photograph of the offender, who must re-register in person each year at a police station.

Under the terms of his registration, Glitter, 63, must inform police within three days if he changes his name or address. He must also disclose if he plans to spend more than seven days or more away from home.

Glitter will also have to notify the police of any plans to travel outside Britain for more than three days. If he breaks the terms of his registration, he could face a prison sentence of up to five years.

Although Glitter will not be subject to any formal court-ordered supervision, he is expected to be monitored under multi-agency public protection arrangements.

Diana Sutton, head of policy with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: “Gary Glitter is a persistent offender responsible for a catalogue of sexual crimes against children. We are concerned that current travel prevention orders, designed to prevent a sex offender from going overseas, are not working.”

In a recent interview with Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper in Vietnam, Glitter said that he intended to resume his singing career and may move to Singapore or Hong Kong.

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