Gary Glitter blamed a conspiracy of the media after he was convicted of molesting two young girls and jailed for three years by a court in Vietnam today.

The former pop singer looked stunned as the verdict and sentence were read out to the packed courtroom at shortly after 10am (0300GMT). "I'm innocent... I am innocent," he declared as he was escorted through the scrum of reporters and locals to a waiting prison van.

Glitter, 61, will be deported from Vietnam as soon as the sentence is complete, which could be as soon as December. British authorities today said that he would be met by police at the airport and immediately placed back on the sex offenders register if he returned to the UK.

Although the judge at the Communist People's Court in the resort of Vung Tau stated that the prison sentence would send a powerful message to other sex tourists, it is the minimum that can be imposed for sexual abuse of a minor.

Glitter paid the families of the two girls $2,000 each to drop allegations of rape which carries a penalty of death by firing squad. Child welfare groups welcomed his conviction but questioned the leniency of the sentence.

In court this morning, the mother of one of Glitter's victims sat quietly, with tears welling up in her eyes, as the judge summed up graphic evidence detailing how Glitter, charged under his real name Paul Francis Gadd, committed a series of sex acts on the girls - aged 11 and 12 - from July to October last year.

The singer befriended three Vietnamese prostitutes who helped him to procure younger girls for sex. Pornographic material, including more than 2,300 images and cartoons and over 30 child pornography video clips, was found on his computer.

"The defendant had exhibited disgusting and ill-intentioned behaviour towards children several times, causing displeasure and condemnation among the public", said Hoang Thanh Tung.

"When we speak of his behaviour, we understand right away that he has a sickness. He is sick. He is abnormal."

Glitter, wearing a red bandanna, stood upright in the dock, his arms clasped behind his back as the judge spent 30 minutes going through evidence presented to the court behind closed doors yesterday.

Mr Tung added: "Although Gary Glitter did not admit his crimes, investigative agencies had enough evidence of several obscene acts with the victims."

Glitter maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings and claimed he was teaching the girls English, allowing them to stay overnight because they were scared of ghosts.

He was found in Vietnam by the News of the World last year, which said he was living with a teenage girl at his beachside villa in Vung Tau. He was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport on November 19, trying to flee to Thailand.

"It was not a fair trial," Glitter said as uniformed guards pushed him into a prison van.

"It’s a conspiracy by you know who." Asked to whom he was referring, Glitter replied: "One of Britain’s great newspapers."

The disgraced rock star - the first foreigner to be tried for sex crimes in postwar Vietnam - has 15 days to appeal the verdict and sentence.

Under Vietnamese law, prisoners are eligible to apply for parole after serving one third of the term. This raises the possibility that after his time on remand is taken into account Glitter, 61, could be deported back to Britain by the end of the year.

The singer was released from a British prison halfway through a four-month sentence for possession of child pornography in 1999.

After leaving the UK, he first moved to Cuba, then resettled in Cambodia, where he lived on and off for years before he was expelled in 2002 after reportedly trawling for child sex.

The British embassy in Hanoi did not comment on the case but said that the UK was determined to crack down on citizens who travel abroad to abuse children.

"Both the UK and the Vietnamese governments take the issue of child sex tourism extremely seriously," it said in a statement. "UK nationals who travel abroad with the explicit intent to abuse children will remain the focus of UK law enforcement activity."

Christine Beddoe, of charity End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (Ecpat), said: "We are pleased that justice has been done and he has been found guilty, but it is disappointing that he did not receive the maximum sentence.

"We hope that the British authorities will take time to investigate other allegations that could lead to charges when he returns to the UK."

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