Hunted paedophile suspect named

A suspected paedophile who appears in 200 internet images abusing young boys has been named by Thai police as a Canadian teaching English in Asia.

They said he was Christopher Paul Neil, 32. Interpol said they had indentified the suspect but did not name him.

Interpol had appealed for public information after the suspect's digitally-swirled image in internet photos was unscrambled by experts.

Interpol said the suspect had flown from South Korea to Thailand last week.

It has released a security camera image of the man arriving at Bangkok airport on 11 October on a flight from Seoul.

"He is now internationally known," said Mick Moran, the Interpol officer leading the search for the suspect.

"Interpol's network is very large. I have no doubt that we will find him - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but definitely we will find him."

Unprecedented appeal

The first pictures of the man were found three years ago in Germany. The pictures had been manipulated to disguise the man's face with a swirl pattern, but German computer specialists managed to produce identifiable images which were posted on Interpol's website a week ago.

UNFOLDING INVESTIGATION

• Dec 2004: Abuse photos, some date-stamped 2002 or 2003, found on internet
• 8 Oct 2007: Interpol's global appeal for information
• 9 Oct: Interpol says more than 200 responses received
• 11 Oct: Suspect flies into Bangkok on one-way ticket

After an appeal for information, the suspect was identified by five different sources from three continents as a man teaching English at a school in South Korea, Interpol said.

Police then established his name, nationality, date of birth, passport number and current and previous places of work.

Panaspong Sirawongse, Interpol chief in Thailand, named the suspect as Christopher Paul Neil.

He told Reuters the Canadian had worked at an international school in Thailand between 2003 and 2004.

Photographs of the suspect published on the internet show him apparently abusing 12 boys in Vietnam and Cambodia.

"Thai police are collecting evidence and information from neighbouring countries and other Interpol members to seek a court order for an arrest warrant," Thai police Colonel Apichart Suriboonya told the French news agency AFP.

Interpol maintains a database of 520,000 images of child sex abuse submitted by 36 member states.

Using sophisticated software, investigators have identified and rescued nearly 600 victims from 31 countries.

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