High-risk offender settles down in B.C.
‘Swirl Face’ sex predator was first arrested in 2007
High-risk sex offender Christopher Paul Neil, also known as “Swirl Face,” is settling down in Vancouver after serving prison time in Canada and Thailand for abusing underage boys, according to B.C. corrections officials.
Neil, 42, a former schoolteacher originally from Maple Ridge, B.C., was the focus of a massive international manhunt after German police found more than 200 online images in 2004 of a Caucasian man sexually abusing young boys.
He was dubbed “Swirl Face” because his image in the photos was digitally obscured to conceal his identity. Neil was arrested in Thailand in 2007 after Interpol unscram- bled the photos.
After serving a five-year sentence in Thailand, Neil was deported to Canada in October 2012.
He lived in B.C. under strict bail conditions until March 2014, when he was arrested on new charges.
In December 2015, he was sentenced to five and a half years more in custody after pleading guilty to sexual touching and invitation to sexual touching of two Cambodian boys aged nine and 13, and possession of child pornography.
That Canadian sentence was cut to roughly 15 months because of presentencing custody.
“(We) want the public to be aware of this individual’s presence in the community and to contact authorities if they observe Mr. Neil engaging in any activity that could be considered a violation of his court order,” B.C. Corrections spokesperson Cindy Rose said.
“To be clear, any breach of conditions can result in an offender’s return to custody.”
B.C. Corrections will work closely with Vancouver police and other government agencies “to monitor and enforce Mr. Neil’s 18 court-ordered conditions,” Rose said.
“These conditions include no inperson or online contact with anyone under 16, not possessing any computer or any device capable of accessing the Internet, and not being near parks, schools, daycares, libraries, arcades, recreation or community centres,” Rose said.