The former glam-rock star Gary Glitter, who is in hiding in Britain after serving a prison sentence for child abuse in Vietnam, is free to travel overseas for weekend trips without informing the police, officials confirmed yesterday.

Although Britain claims to have some of the tightest controls on sex offenders in the world, the case of Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, has exposed flaws in the system. He can leave the country for up to three days without notifying the authorities.

Even when sex offenders are required to inform police of trips abroad, few face restrictions. A report published earlier this month found that since 2003 only three sex offenders have been issued with foreign travel orders preventing journeys overseas. By comparison, more than 3,000 banning orders were handed to football hooligans.

Christine Beddoe, author of the report and director of Ecpat UK, a children’s rights group, said: “The government must take immediate steps to give clear guidance on when travel bans should be used to protect the world’s most vulnerable children.”

Glitter, 64, is unlikely to fade into the obscurity typically sought by convicted paedophiles. He has to sign the sex offenders’ register and, as well as being monitored by the police, the tabloid newspapers are eager for information on his whereabouts.

It has been reported that he may move to the southwest but it seems unlikely he would return to the village of Wedmore, Somerset, where he once lived. He has said he requires hospital treatment for a heart condition.

Glitter says his conviction in a Vietnamese court in March 2006 for abusing two children was a “show trial” and a miscarriage of justice.

Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, Glitter must inform the police of any address where he stays for longer than seven days. “He’s unsurprisingly concerned about his safety,” said David Corker, Glitter’s solicitor. He said the Metropolitan police had taken measures to ensure the former singer’s “protection and wellbeing”.

Glitter’s downfall from his 1970s heyday was triggered in 1997 when child pornography was found on his computer while it was being repaired.

He was jailed for two months. After his release he travelled to Cuba and Cambodia before settling in Vietnam. He was arrested for suspected child abuse as he tried to leave the country.

The Home Office last week announced measures that would curtail the movements of sex offenders such as Glitter, making it easier for police to ban them from travelling abroad.

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