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.

September 2015

Welsh paedophile who preyed on young Cambodian girls has sentence slashed

Paedophile Michael Jones ,who targeted young girls in Cambodia has had his sentence slashed from eight years to five after an appeal.

Welshman Jones raped one child and abused a further three before being locked up in April after his victims testified at a Phnom Penh court. 

But charity Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) has confirmed that Jones had his sentence slashed on Thursday by the Appeal Court’s Presiding Judge.

However a deportation order has been upheld so Jones will be forced out of Cambodia once he has served his time.

Vando Khoem, deputy director of field operation at APLE, said: “I welcome the decision of the court to uphold the order that Jones will be mandatorily deported at the end of his sentence, which reduces the likelihood of him re-offending in Cambodia.”

Jones was brought to justice after APLE snapped him strolling hand-in-hand with an 11-year-old girl and sat with another child on his lap.

The organisation watched him buy children gifts, give them money and take one underage girl to a rented room.

Phnom Penh municipal court found him guilty of buying child prostitution and indecent acts against a minor under 15 earlier this year.

He was ordered to pay 9mKHR to his victims – about £1,410.

During his trial Jones, from South Wales, rejected having sexually abused the four victims, but admitted knowing all of them.

They testified to having been sexually abused.

After the police rescued the victims, APLE social workers and other child welfare agencies worked with them to deal with the psychological trauma linked to Jones’ attacks.

The children were said to be “in the recovery” process.

The charity also had lawyers working for free on the case to get Jones jailed.

The investigation into Jones began on April 9, 2013, after he contacted two underage Cambodian girls along a Phnom Penh river front.

The children were thought to be 12 or 13.

Then Jones, 56, was seen with the same girls in a shopping centre where he bought “unidentified stuff” for them.

APLE also watched him give the girls money.

On June 9 last year he returned to Cambodia. APLE saw him “hugging and kissing” one girl. He was seen to “groom” three others.

August 2015

Welsh child rapist is jailed for eight years in Cambodia

Paedophile Michael Jones has been jailed for eight years after being convicted of raping one child and abusing a further three in Cambodia.

The pervert was locked up after his victims testified before a Phnom Penh court that he had abused them.

Welshman Jones was brought to justice after charity Action Pour Les Enfants snapped the paedophile strolling hand in hand with an 11-year-old girl and sat with another child on his lap.

The organisation watched him buy children gifts, give them money and take one underage girl to a rented room.

“Phnom Penh municipal court found him guilty of purchase of child prostitution and indecent acts against a minor under 15 years,” APLE spokesman Vando Khoem said.

“The court sentenced him to eight years imprisonment and ordered him to pay 9mKHR compensation to his victims.”

That is about £1,410.

“The court also ordered additional punishment of deportation for Michael Jones when he finishes his imprisonment,” Mr Khoem said.

“With his dissatisfaction with the first court of instance verdict, Michael Jones decided to file an appeal.”

It is not clear when the court will hear that. Unless his appeal is successful he is expected to serve all his sentence.

“During the trial, Michael Jones rejected having sexually abused the four victims,” Mr Khoem said.

He admitted to knowing all of them.

“The four victims testified to having been sexually abused by Michael Jones,” Mr Khoem said.

The investigation into Jones began on April 9, 2013, after he contacted two underage Cambodian girls along a Phnom Penh river front.

The children were thought to be 12 or 13.

Then Jones was seen with the same girls in a shopping centre where he was seen buying “unidentified stuff” for them.

APLE also watched him give the girls money.

MORE: Members of predatory paedophile gang convicted of string of child sex attacks

On June 9 last year he returned to Cambodia. APLE saw him “hugging and kissing” one girl. He was seen to “groom” three others.

APLE were pleased with the conviction.

“We strongly hope that there’s justice for the child victims.

“Our legal team has been working hard to advocate for a successful prosecution to ensure justice.”

The youngsters were left traumatised by their experience at the hands of Jones, from South Wales.

“All of them are in the recovery process,” Mr Khoem said.

“APLE and our partner NGOs are providing emotional support and counselling to all of them to ensure their recovery and rehabilitation.”

RELATED: Child sex abuse cases in Wales hits 10-year high, and campaigners warn we are only scratching the surface

Geneva-born Jones’ future is uncertain.

APLE were “unsure” how much time he will spend inside.

He was remanded to Prey Sar prison June 27, 2014.

“If the appeal court decides to uphold the first court’s decision, then Michael Jones still has the right to go forward to supreme court, the highest court in Cambodia,” Mr Khoem said.

“Therefore, the number of years of imprisonment remains unclear. If the appeal and supreme court don’t reduce the imprisonment, Michael Jones will surely serve the entire eight years.”

Related: Care worker guilty of raping boy at children’s home

If Jones’ appeal is successful he could leave jail early.

“We’re not sure what the appeal court will decide,” Mr Khoem said. There could be an “imprisonment reduction” or the compensation for the children could be reduced.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “My colleagues have been able to confirm that Mr Jones was jailed for eight years in April 2015. He has since filed an appeal against his sentence to the Cambodian authorities.”

April 2015

Convicted paedophile jailed after being caught secretly filming naked children on a beach

Father-of-two David Thomas Ray was arrested when holidaymakers alerted police to a man on his own acting suspiciously.

The Brit’s holiday apartment was raided and detectives discovered child porn videos on his computer.

Ray has now been jailed for nearly three years for child pornography offences.

The 62-year-old claimed he did not know what he was doing when he filmed his victims because he was high on ecstasy and had been drinking heavily.

The offences took place near the city of Rijeka, on the Northern Adriatic coast in western Croatia last August.

Police recovered a hidden camera in a fake car key which he was using to film naked children on the beach.

Officers later recovered child porn pictures on his computer and 23 short videos and five videos taken of naked kids at the beach.

Defending himself in court in Rijeka, Ray who now lives in New Zealand, claimed he was ‘drinking too much that day’.

He told the judge: “I took also an ecstasy pill. I did not know what I was doing.”

Trying to explain the child abuse videos found in his apartment, Ray claimed he bought a second hand laptop, ‘so it was probably in there’.

He added: “I had no idea it was in there.”

The court revealed they had confirmation from police in Britain and New Zealand that Ray had committed similar offences before and had been sentenced previously.

The judge Sandra Juranovic sentenced him to two years and 10 months behind bars in Croatia.

When reading the verdict, she said the court took in consideration he admitted he had filmed the children on the beach and that he was a father-of-two.

He can appeal the verdict but will be kept in custody until a higher court confirms or rejects the verdict.

September 2011

Child rapist went on to lead respectable life until victim eventually spoke out

A PENSIONER who raped a child 50 years ago is today behind bars beginning a 10-year sentence.

For more than half a century, former steelworker and Spillers delivery man John Andrews, now aged 80, thought he had got away with his crimes.

He brought up a family of his own, had grandchildren and nursed a sick wife until her death.

But through all the decades his victims never forgot what happened to them at his hands.

And jailing Andrews yesterday, Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones QC said it was clear from seeing those victims, who now have grown-up families of their own, that they were still profoundly affected.

One had been in hospital following a nervous breakdown and the another has received treatment for depression.

“If it had not been for your age, I would have given you 15 years,” he told the paedophile pensioner, who had led a life of outward respectability.

The ex-merchant seaman’s wicked sexual attacks on innocent children were hidden until last year when one victim found the courage to at last reveal the truth, and police became involved.

Andrews later admitted four offences against one victim and even told the jurors during his trial that he knew he had done wrong but had had “urges” when he was a young man and sexually frustrated.

But he always denied there had been other victims. He called their stories wicked lies.

But the jury found him guilty of 17 offences, clearing him of four charges and failing to reach verdicts on others.

The judge told him: “I take into account there have been no further offences and that you showed care for your wife until the end of her life.

“It is your own fault that you have destroyed what’s left of your own life.”

Andrews’ name will be in the sex offenders’ register until he dies.

December 2004

JAILED PERVERT GETS CHARITY CHILD PICS

A CONVICTED paedophile was sent pictures of youngsters by a children’s charity he sponsored from his secure unit.

Drunken pervert Geoffrey Strike, 59, donated £150 a month for nine months to the global charity World Vision which aims to stop child poverty and abuse. In return, he received images and stickers of children with which he decorated the walls of his rehabilitation unit.

It is claimed unit staff were aware of his sponsorship but did nothing to stop it. Letters from World Vision to Strike were marked with his membership number and the note “staff to look at this”.

It was only when Strike halted his membership last month that the pictures stopped arriving. A source told the Mirror: “A lot of staff were unhappy this was going on and that apparently nothing was done.

“When mail comes to the unit, it is supposed to be vetted. If people know someone with Strike’s history is getting pictures of children then something is seriously wrong.”

Strike – who has a shocking record of assaults on youngsters – is locked up in Charles House, Salford, Greater Manchester.

Craegmoor Healthcare, which runs the unit, said: “In the interests of confidentiality, it is not our policy to comment on individuals.

“We have looked into these concerns and taken appropriate action.”

World Vision was unaware of Strike’s fantasies. A calendar sent to him contained images of smiling boys and girls for nearly every month.

Sharon McLeod, Head of Supporter Care, told him in a letter: “I just wanted to say ‘thank you’.

“My hope is that it will bring to life how much you as a child sponsor are changing the world for children just like the ones shown on the pictures.”

Former soldier Strike indecently assaulted a boy of six in 1975. He admitted he felt no shame.

In 1983, he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Two years later, he was jailed for three months at Bolton for assaulting a girl of 10.

In 1991, Strike was convicted of gross indecency on a boy. He was jailed again for six months in 1994 for threatening police with a sword before being moved to a secure unit.

Despite his record, he has been allowed out of the unit without escort.

Strike went AWOL for five weeks in August. He was found in a tent near a playground with a tub of vaseline, 300 cigarettes and a bottle of alcopop.

He is still allowed out of the unit on escorted leave.

World Vision said: “Our procedures are designed to prevent misuse of the sponsorship programme.”