Glitter says he will win sex abuse appeal

VUNG TAU, Vietnam, May 2 (UPI) -- British glam rocker Gary Glitter says he is confident he will win the appeal of his child sexual abuse conviction in Vietnam.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was sentenced to three years in prison in March for molesting two girls, ages 11 and 12. His appeal is set for May 19 in Ho Chi Minh City and Glitter told the BBC he was confident he would win at the next level.

Declaring his innocence, Glitter said there is no evidence he molested the girls, saying: "I know the line to cross."

He said there is a distinction between sleeping with children and molesting them.

"I'm a father, so from time to time these things happen," he said. "Your daughter will come into your bed in the night because she's scared or something like that. This happened in this case over here. She was scared of ghosts, so under pressure I said OK."

A victims' advocate, however, told the BBC the girls were clear in their accusations against Glitter and accused him of trying to "minimize what he had done."

Glitter was convicted in London of downloading child pornography from the Internet in 1999.