March 2011

British man jailed for seven years after sexually abusing young girls in Cambodia

A Cambodian court has convicted a British man of sexually abusing two girls and sentenced him to seven years in prison.

Matthew John Harland, 38, a computer engineer was arrested in May last year at the house he rented in the capital, Phnom Penh he was found to be living with two girls aged 11 and 12.

Harland was found guilty of buying sex from an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old in 2006 and for committing an indecent act against a 13-year-old girl.

He was found to be living with two girls aged 11 and 12.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Kor Vandy convicted Harland on charges of buying sex from the girls and ordered him to pay each child compensation of two million riel (£300).

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign paedophiles because of poverty and poor law enforcement.

In recent years police and courts have increasingly targeted sex offenders.