By Andrew Drummond in Bangkok and Cyril Dixon in London
Daily Express
October 20,2007
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/22583/Seized-How-swirly-paedophile-worked-with-boys-all-his-life
The world's most wanted paedophile was paraded in public yesterday after a global manhunt traced him to a remote bolthole in Thailand.
Christopher Neil, 32, was flown to Bangkok and put in front of the cameras by police after a tip-off led to his arrest.
Neil ñ nicknamed Vico ñ became the focus of an international search after images of him abusing children were posted on the internet with his face digitally disguised into a ìswirlî pattern.
Yesterday, as Thai police warned he faces up to 20 years in jail, details of Neilís sinister double life emerged, including his work with children as a teacher and chaplain.
Family and friends described Neil as an ordinary Canadian from a respectable family who had trained as a priest.
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| EXPOSED: Neil, 32, once worked as a chaplain |
He was said to be a ìregular guyî who had once worked as a military chaplain offering comfort and advice to recruits as young as 12.
Neil was identified after Interpol specialists managed to ìunswirlî his image.†
He was arrested in Nakorn Ratchassima province, 150 miles north-east of Bangkok, where he had fled to stay with a Thai friend.
During the investigation, police collected up to 200 photographs of Neil abusing young Vietnamese and Cambodian boys as young as six.†
Police say he will be charged within 48 hours with abusing three victims, aged nine, 13, and 14, at an apartment in the city.
Wearing a white shirt and dark sunglasses and with a foot injury visible, Neil was placed at a table at Bangkok police headquarters where he stared impassively ahead while photographers took his picture.
Police Lieutenant-General Ponsapat Pongcharoen said: ìWe received several tips and also found victims of his abuse. We went to pick him up this morning.†
ìHe has already been identified by one of the victims, not only from his face but from a mark on his body. I cannot tell you where that mark is.î
ìWe have a message. We take the abuse of our children very seriously. It is against our culture and against our religion. We will not tolerate foreigners coming to Thailand to abuse our children.î†
Yesterday, residents in Neilís home town of Maple Ridge, near Vancouver, were in a state of shock.
His younger brother Matthew, 30, said: ìOur range of emotions has gone from anger to shock to devastation. My mother is completely devastated.†
ìHe came back to stay with us this year from April to August. Weíd often go for a few beers and watch the hockey game. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.î
Teacher Amy Bowler, who grew up with Neil in Maple Ridge, said she contacted Interpol after seeing his image in press reports. ìIt was certainly unthinkable that he would be a predator of any kind,î she said. ìBut the resemblance was so striking that I contacted Interpol if only, I thought, to rule him out. None of us wanted to believe it was true.î
Neil had begun training to be a priest in the 1990s at the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission, a few miles from Maple Ridge.†
Rector the Rev. Nicholas Ruh said yesterday Neil left because he ìlacked the necessary personal qualificationsî.†
However, he was allowed to work as a chaplain at military cadet training camps in Nova Scotia for several summers where he gave ìspiritual guidanceî to youths aged between 12 and 18.†
Although Neil has spent most of his working life in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, he also held a volunteer instructorís post at St Patrickís Elementary School, Maple Ridge, six years ago.
Most recently, he taught at a private school run by the Adventist Church in Bangkok and offered web advice to Canadian teachers on how to avoid police scrutiny when applying for jobs in south-east Asia.
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