Gary Glitter Appeals Child Molestation Conviction

Ex-prince of U.K. glam rock Gary Glitter has decided to appeal his three-year sentence for child molestation in Vietnam, according to a statement released by his lawyer on Thursday.

The former showman, who used to sport one-piece glitter jump suits with platform heels, was found guilty of molesting two girls, 10 and 11, at his southern seaside villa in the resort town of Vung Tau last year. He was convicted and sentenced March 3 in a Vung Tau provincial court.

"He told me he was innocent so he has the appeal to clear this matter," Glitter's lawyer Le Thanh Kinh told the Bangkok Post Thursday.

At the time of the conviction Glitter (real name Paul Francis Gadd) claimed he was simply tutoring the girls in English and allowed them to sleep in his bed because they were scared of ghosts. He avoided the full seven-year sentence and other charges because of lack of evidence and the judge's acknowledgement that Glitter paid each of the victim's families for their "co-operation."

Glitter signed the appeal petition, which will be forwarded to the appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City, after meeting with Kinh at the Phuoc Co prison Wednesday. A decision on the appeal could take up to three months. Whether it's accepted or not, the glam-rocker will be deported to the U.K. when he's finished his sentence.

This wasn't Glitter's first encounter with the law. In 1999, he was put on the Child Sex Offender List in England after he pleaded guilty to 54 counts of child pornography possession. Later, he moved to Cambodia where child-welfare activists petitioned the government to have him kicked out of the country. He later settled in Vietnam.