US rape suspect held in Hong Kong

US officials launched a worldwide manhunt for Kenneth Freeman

One of America's most wanted suspected sex offenders has been captured in Hong Kong, after a worldwide manhunt.

Police arrested Kenneth Freeman, 45, as he arrived in the territory from mainland China, according to the US Marshals Service.

Mr Freeman went on the run in 2006 after his daughter accused him of rape, even appearing on a national TV show to tell her story.

He has also been accused of producing child pornography videos.

Pornography link

Mr Freeman, described as a keen bodybuilder and computer expert, fled the US months after his daughter made allegations that he had assaulted her four years earlier.

She appeared on the TV show America's Most Wanted to talk about the case.

Tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after the programme helped identify the girl as the victim in a series of child pornography videos, according to the US Marshals Service.

The footage is among the most widely downloaded child pornography videos in recent years, officials said.

Mr Freeman was put on the most-wanted lists of the Marshals Service and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a worldwide manhunt was launched.

Investigators tracked him to China, where he is thought to have been working for a US-based company.

But the US does not have an extradition agreement with Beijing, so the investigators had to wait until Mr Freeman left for a trip to Hong Kong, where such an agreement does exist, to arrest him.

Chris Peale, the girl's stepfather, told a news conference that she deserved the most credit for Mr Freedman's arrest.

"Without her strength and conviction, this would never have happened," Mr Peale said of his now 17-year-old stepdaughter.

"We're rejoicing today. An awful man, an evil man has been captured," he told the Associated Press.