Paedophile suspect held in prison

A Canadian schoolteacher suspected of having sex with dozens of young boys will be held in a Thai jail for at least 12 days.A court in Bangkok ordered that Christopher Neil be detained pending a trial on molestation charges and could move later to keep him behind bars up to 84 days.Neil was arrested early on Friday at a house in the rural north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, which he rented with a Thai transvestite friend whose phone calls police had traced.The 32-year-old Neil arrived in court wearing a red-striped T-shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses. Looking haggard, he said "no comment" when reporters asked him if he had anything to say to his family.Neil was charged with detention of a child under 15 without parental consent, punishable by up to three years in prison; taking a child under 15 from his parents without consent, punishable by five to 20 years; and sexual abuse of a child under 15, punishable by up to ten years.The charges are based on his alleged abuse of a nine-year-old boy in Bangkok in 2003, but Thai police say at least three other boys are believed to have had sex with him, and more charges may be filed.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | October 20, 2007

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