Crown asks for up to six months for convicted pedophile who breached conditions

VANCOUVER – A Crown lawyer says a B.C. man who served time in a Thai prison for abusing two boys should be sentenced to up to six months in jail after he admitted possessing a device that gave him access to the Internet.

Christopher Neil was deported to Canada in 2012, when he was immediately placed under conditions designed to protect children, including a ban on owning devices such as a laptop.

Crown counsel Gerri-Lyn Nelson told court that Neil, who pleaded guilty last fall to violating his conditions, had four devices including a laptop, cell phones and an e-reader.

She says the Crown wants a jail sentence of between five and six months, followed by three years of probation.

The 39-year-old from Maple Ridge, B.C., became notoriously known as “Swirl Face” after his face was digitally obscured in images that showed him abusing children, for which he was arrested in Bangkok in 2007.

He was arrested this past March and charged with 10 offences related to child sex tourism and child pornography.

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