JADED British rock star Gary Glitter is expected to go on trial in southern Vietnam in late February, to defend charges he committed obscene acts with two girls aged 10 and 11.

Glitter, 61, who glam-rocked his way through the 1970s, was accused last week by prosecutors of kissing and fondling the girls and engaging in other lewd acts at his rented villa in the seaside resort city of Vung Tau last year.

"We are considering the case," said Ta Quoc Viet, head of the local criminal court. "We expect to put him on trial in the second half of next month."

The charges against Glitter carry prison terms of three to seven years, he said.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, originally faced possible child rape charges carrying the death penalty, but prosecutors did not find enough evidence for those charges.

But if evidence of child rape is discovered during the course of the trial, new charges could be filed, Viet said.

The court is yet to decide if the trial will be open to the public or held behind closed doors.

Glitter has been held at a jail near Vung Tau since November 19 after he was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City while trying to board a flight out of Vietnam.

Glitter was convicted in Britain in 1999 of possessing child pornography, and served half of a four-month jail term. In 2002 he was permanently expelled from Cambodia, but officials there did not specify any crime or file charges.