ROB GILLIES
A suspected paedophile, named yesterday after an unprecedented global Interpol manhunt, worked as a chaplain and counsellor of children for the Canadian military and was studying to become a priest, colleagues said.
Before becoming an English teacher in Asia, Christopher Paul Neil, 32, was a chaplain from 1998 to 2000 at an air cadet summer training centre in Nova Scotia, said Captain Hope Carr, a public affairs officer for the Canadian military.
Neil's duties would include spiritual advising for children aged 12 to 18 and teaching a moral issues class, Carr said, adding no complaints about Neil were brought to commanding officers at that time.
Authorities on Monday identified Neil as a Canadian teacher who flew into Bangkok on a one-way ticket and was still at large. His brother in Canada said the family was "in shock".
Authorities said the man was shown in about 200 internet photos abusing young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia. His face was masked by a digitalised blur, but police managed to recreate an image of him, and four reconstructed photos were made public.
Matthew Neil, 30, the suspect's younger brother, said the family learned about the accusations last week after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police contacted them to identify photos.
"My mother is devastated and the family is in shock," said Matthew Neil, speaking from the family home in British Columbia.
He said his brother probably knows he will be extradited to Canada, and hoped he would surrender. He said his brother had worked overseas as a teacher for about five years.
In the US, a fugitive accused of raping a three-year-old girl on videotape was arrested yesterday in Nevada, telling police: "I'm tired of running."
Chester "Chet" Arthur Stiles, 37, has been wanted since October 5 in connection with the acts seen on a videotape found in the rural Nevada town of Pahrump last month.
The search began after authorities found the girl, now seven, on September 28.-AP
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