Glammer Glitter has sentence reduced

HANOI, Vietnam, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Glam rocker Gary Glitter received a three-month reduction in his three-year child molestation sentence in Vietnam.

Tran Thi Thien Huong, a judge on the review panel, said the decision made under a national amnesty program means Glitter will be released in August 2008, the BBC said.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of sexual abuse of two Vietnamese girls last March.

The three-judge panel said it balanced Glitter's good behavior in prison with the seriousness of the crimes for which he was convicted.

Vietnam traditionally reduces the sentences of inmates with good prison records as part of a nationwide Lunar New Year jail amnesty program. Other amnesties could reduce Glitter's sentence further.

Christine Beddoe, director of Britain's End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography And the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, said she was "disappointed" that Glitter's sentence was reduced.

"ECPAT UK fully believes that Paul Gadd should serve the fullest sentence in order to protect children in Vietnam and the rest of the world," Beddoe said.