By Kate McGeown BBC News, Vung Tau, Vietnam

Glitter outside court

When the regulation green prison van drove through the gates of a court in southern Vietnam on Thursday, the assembled press pack pounced.

Eager for a glimpse of the disgraced rock star, who is accused of molesting two young girls, many of those waiting imagined they would be met by a broken man.

But as he stepped out of the van, 61-year-old Glitter looked far from defeated.

His face was gaunt and he had evidently lost weight during his four-month detention, but as he walked up the stairs for the start of his trial, he raised his hand in a victory salute and mouthed the word "innocent".

Manual labour

Since his arrest in November, Glitter has been incarcerated in a jail on the outskirts of Vung Tau town.

It is a forbidding place, surrounded by four-metre (13ft) walls topped with razor wire.

Local man Van Hien said he wasn't really following the Glitter trial

Inmates carry out manual work in the hot Vietnamese sun, wearing regulation black and white-striped outfits - a world away from the outrageous silver suits and bright, thick make-up that were Glitter's trademark in his 1970s heyday.

But then, even before his arrest, his life was not exactly that of an international rock star.

Since 1999, when he was jailed for two months in the UK for downloading pornographic images, Glitter has flitted from country to country.

After being deported from Cambodia amid unspecified rumours of child abuse in 2002, he eventually made his home in Vung Tau, buying a house on the beachfront and mingling with other expatriates.

Before his arrest, hardly anyone in Vung Tau knew of his famous past. And even now they do know, few of them care.

While the British press was clamouring to get a glimpse of Glitter at the court on Thursday, few Vietnamese turned up - and even then, many of them were attracted by the presence of foreign media rather than the former star.

Glitter 'naive'

Back in the town of Vung Tau itself, less than 30 minutes away from the court, Thursday morning was just like any other.

Even people playing cards in the alley next to the former rock star's house showed little interest.

Vung Tau's CD shop does not sell any of Glitter's music

"I knew Gary Glitter by sight as I live and work around here, but I'm not really following the case," said Van Hien, as he sat in a plastic chair next to the wall into Glitter's garden.

Westerners living in Vung Tau are understandably more interested in the trial proceedings.

"We do talk about Gary Glitter, yes," said Drew, an Australian who works on the nearby offshore oil rigs.

"But to be honest, we often joke about it - not the allegations, of course, but how he could have been so stupid and naive.

"If you're Gary Glitter, to come here and have young girls round to your house - whatever happens after that - well, it's just stupid."

Lasting legacy

Some locals are also worried about the effect of the trial on the town's image.

"I think it will change people's views about Vung Tau, and make them think it's a place for foreigners to come to visit young girls," said Nguyen Thi Bich Lien, the owner of a local music shop.

"If that happens, I'm afraid there will be other cases like this one," she said.

Whatever the verdict of the trial, it seems almost certain that Glitter will not be welcomed back to live in Vung Tau as a free man.

His lasting legacy in the town will certainly not be his music, but the notoriety brought by the court case.

"Gary Glitter used to come into my shop a lot to buy CDs," said Nguyen Thi Bich Lien.

"We never sold any of his music, though. In fact I haven't even heard any his songs.