‘Swirl Face’ pedophile faces 10 new child abuse, pornography charges

VANCOUVER – A B.C. man who served five years in a Thai prison for sexually abusing children is facing 10 new charges related to offences that RCMP say occurred in B.C. and Cambodia.

Police say Christopher Neil, who gained international attention after a digital image obscured by a swirl was uncovered and revealed his face, was arrested following investigations by Vancouver police and the RCMP’s child exploitation unit.

The charges include sexual touching and production of child pornography, which Mounties say occurred in 2003 in Cambodia, and possession of child pornography in 2007 in Maple Ridge, B.C.

Neil also faces additional counts of accessing child pornography.

Neil, a former English teacher from Maple Ridge, was arrested in Bangkok in 2007 and convicted of a series of sexual offences involving children.

The man was released and returned to Canada in 2012 under strict conditions meant to protect children, but he pleaded guilty to breaching a condition last year after police found him with a laptop in breach of his conditions.