Teacher ID’d After Interpol Public Plea Gets 39 Months in Child Sex Abuse Case

International Law

Teacher ID’d After Interpol Public Plea Gets 39 Months in Child Sex Abuse Case

Posted Aug 15, 2008, 06:13 pm CST
By Martha Neil

A Canadian schoolteacher has been sentenced to 39 months in a child sex abuse case in Thailand that captured international attention over authorities' use of a high-tech investigative technique and an unprecedented Internet appeal for public help in tracking down a seemingly anonymous suspect.

Christopher Paul Neil's face had been"swirled" in photographs posted on the Internet that allegedly showed him abusing underage boys. But German police were able to reverse the digital process, and Interpol posted the image online and asked for public help in identifying the suspect. Within days, they had identified and captured Neil, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.

He was sentenced today concerning his abuse of a 13-year-old boy, to which he pleaded guilty. The sentence was half what he might have gotten, had he fought the case and been convicted, reports the BBC. In addition to the prison term, Neil, 32, was also fined 60,000 baht ($1,780).

"But he denies abusing the victim's brother, who was 9 at the time of the alleged offense," the news agency reports. "Neil's trial on that charge is scheduled for October, and he faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty."

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