The 64-year-old paedophile had reportedly been refusing to return to Britain following his release on Tuesday from a Vietnamese prison, where he had been in jail for abusing two young girls.

But having failed to gain entry to Thailand on two occasions and Hong Kong once, Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, agreed to fly to London Heathrow.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that Mr Gadd has left Bangkok and is heading to the UK."

He is expected to land in Britain on Friday morning.

When he lands in Britain police will serve Glitter an order which will effectively put him on the sex offenders register for a second time.

The former Glam rock singer was convicted of downloading child pornography in the UK in 1999 after a computer repair shop found the images on his laptop and he served two months of a four-month sentence.

He left the country and moved to Spain and Cuba before travelling to south-east Asia, where he escaped detection until he was tracked down by reporters. He was kicked out of Cambodia after facing allegations of sex crimes and moved to the Vietnamese coastal resort of Vung Tau.

The two girls at first made allegations of rape, which carries a death sentence, but were reportedly paid off with £1,175.

Glitter was arrested trying to leave the country and stood trial, pleading not guilty and claiming he was teaching the girls English. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in March 2006.