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I'm surprised no one has brought this up yet. 
Oh well, it's not my usual topic area but I'll take on the task. Let's see where it goes...
And the swirl picture:
Oh well, it's not my usual topic area but I'll take on the task. Let's see where it goes...
A suspected pedophile, the subject of a global Interpol manhunt, once worked as a chaplain and counsellor at an air cadet training centre in Nova Scotia, with duties that included teaching a moral issues class.
Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old teacher from British Columbia, became the subject of an international manhunt after Interpol identified him as a man whose digitally blurred image appeared in hundreds of Internet photos showing sexual abuse of boys.
The international police organization said Tuesday that Neil flew from South Korea - where he taught - into Bangkok last Thursday on a one-way ticket and was still at large.
Matthew Neil, 30, the suspect's younger brother, said from Maple Ridge, B.C., that the family found out 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," he said.
"We're co-operating with RCMP and Interpol. We're hoping this comes to a quick close."
Matthew Neil said the family has had no contact with his brother since he left for South Korea in August.
A Canadian military official said that before becoming an English teacher in Asia, Christopher Neil worked as a chaplain and counsellor at the Greenwood Air Cadet Summer Training Centre in Nova Scotia.
Neil's duties would include spiritual advising and teaching a moral issues class, said Captain Hope Carr, a public affairs officer for the Canadian military.
Neil worked advising kids ages 12 to 18 from 1998 to 2000.
"If young people were very homesick and having trouble coping away from home at a camp, he would be there to counsel," Carr said.
There were no complaints about Neil brought to the commanding officers of the summer training centres during that time, Carr said, adding that she had spoken with the officers.
Canadian and other foreign expatriots living in South Korea suggest in an online forum for teachers that Neil has been teaching until recently at the Kwangju Foreign School.
The school's website Tuesday morning listed Neil as a Grade 7-8 history and social studies teacher, with a degree from The Seminary of Christ the King, in Mission, B.C., but his name was removed from the website shortly after.
Anne Kully, principal of Saint Patrick's School in Maple Ridge, B.C., said in 2000 and 2001 Neil volunteered at the school as part of his training at Christ of the King seminary, where he was studying to become a priest.
He also applied for a teaching position at the school, which teaches kindergarten through Grade 7, Kully said.
Neil's arrival at Bangkok's international airport Thursday was caught on camera at the immigration centre.
Authorities said the man was shown in some 200 Internet photos abusing young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia. His face, however, was masked by a digitalized blur. German police said they recreated an image of him, and four reconstructed photos were released to the public.
The international police organization issued an unusual global appeal for help in identifying and tracing the suspect on Oct. 8.
On Monday, after receiving hundreds of tips, Interpol announced it had identified the suspect. Thai and Cambodian police revealed the man's name, age and nationality Tuesday.
The Interpol operation to find the suspected pedophile, codenamed Operation Vico, marks the first time the organization has issued a direct, worldwide request for information from the public.
Amy Bowler, a Canadian teacher who socialized with Neil when he lived in the South Korean city of Yongin, said she contacted Interpol after seeing the photos, as did two acquaintances.
Neil often went out with her circle of expatriates, and he loved to sing karaoke, she said.
"He had a number of close friends. He came out regularly for drinks. He was certainly not a pariah," Bowler said in a telephone interview.
Before the manhunt began, more than 300 messages under the name Peter Jackson were posted on a forum for English teachers called Dave's ESL Cafe.
A lead officer working the case said investigators strongly suspect that postings by Jackson were Neil's, and have told police in Southeast Asia about the possible pseudonym. And two teachers who knew and socialized with Neil told The Associated Press that Neil wrote extensively online under the pseudonym Peter Jackson.
The posts are a window into the mind of a man who comes off as dedicated to teaching, well-travelled and well-spoken - but with a sophomoric sense of humour. Sex is a recurring theme, but there are no references to an attraction to children.
Jackson complained about condoms in South Korea, talked about a nurse who bathed him in a Thai hospital and described rebuffing a man who hit on him in a sauna. He discussed how to delay or skirt police background checks needed for some teaching jobs.
In a posting that was part of an online discussion with several people about pornography, Jackson wrote: "If you're worried about any 'content' there are several ways to encrypt your drive."
"If you want to get rid of old files so no one will see, then simply deleting them will not work," he added.
Kim Scanlan of the Toronto police child exploitation unit said Neil could be extradited to Canada if arrested.
Scanlan said the unit has been trying to learn his identity and where the abuse was taking place for the last couple of years. Police learned he was Canadian after releasing his photo.
Toronto's acclaimed child exploitation unit tries to figure out the identity and whereabouts of suspected pedophiles regardless of nationality.
Investigators have been hunting the man in the photos for three years, since German police discovered online photographs of a man abusing underage Asian boys. The man in the photos was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12 young Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age from six to early teens.
Interpol said that more than 350 people supplied tips to authorities worldwide. Officials are still collecting and analyzing evidence to bring charges if the man is arrested, it said.
-(With files from The Canadian Press)
Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old teacher from British Columbia, became the subject of an international manhunt after Interpol identified him as a man whose digitally blurred image appeared in hundreds of Internet photos showing sexual abuse of boys.
The international police organization said Tuesday that Neil flew from South Korea - where he taught - into Bangkok last Thursday on a one-way ticket and was still at large.
Matthew Neil, 30, the suspect's younger brother, said from Maple Ridge, B.C., that the family found out 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," he said.
"We're co-operating with RCMP and Interpol. We're hoping this comes to a quick close."
Matthew Neil said the family has had no contact with his brother since he left for South Korea in August.
A Canadian military official said that before becoming an English teacher in Asia, Christopher Neil worked as a chaplain and counsellor at the Greenwood Air Cadet Summer Training Centre in Nova Scotia.
Neil's duties would include spiritual advising and teaching a moral issues class, said Captain Hope Carr, a public affairs officer for the Canadian military.
Neil worked advising kids ages 12 to 18 from 1998 to 2000.
"If young people were very homesick and having trouble coping away from home at a camp, he would be there to counsel," Carr said.
There were no complaints about Neil brought to the commanding officers of the summer training centres during that time, Carr said, adding that she had spoken with the officers.
Canadian and other foreign expatriots living in South Korea suggest in an online forum for teachers that Neil has been teaching until recently at the Kwangju Foreign School.
The school's website Tuesday morning listed Neil as a Grade 7-8 history and social studies teacher, with a degree from The Seminary of Christ the King, in Mission, B.C., but his name was removed from the website shortly after.
Anne Kully, principal of Saint Patrick's School in Maple Ridge, B.C., said in 2000 and 2001 Neil volunteered at the school as part of his training at Christ of the King seminary, where he was studying to become a priest.
He also applied for a teaching position at the school, which teaches kindergarten through Grade 7, Kully said.
Neil's arrival at Bangkok's international airport Thursday was caught on camera at the immigration centre.
Authorities said the man was shown in some 200 Internet photos abusing young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia. His face, however, was masked by a digitalized blur. German police said they recreated an image of him, and four reconstructed photos were released to the public.
The international police organization issued an unusual global appeal for help in identifying and tracing the suspect on Oct. 8.
On Monday, after receiving hundreds of tips, Interpol announced it had identified the suspect. Thai and Cambodian police revealed the man's name, age and nationality Tuesday.
The Interpol operation to find the suspected pedophile, codenamed Operation Vico, marks the first time the organization has issued a direct, worldwide request for information from the public.
Amy Bowler, a Canadian teacher who socialized with Neil when he lived in the South Korean city of Yongin, said she contacted Interpol after seeing the photos, as did two acquaintances.
Neil often went out with her circle of expatriates, and he loved to sing karaoke, she said.
"He had a number of close friends. He came out regularly for drinks. He was certainly not a pariah," Bowler said in a telephone interview.
Before the manhunt began, more than 300 messages under the name Peter Jackson were posted on a forum for English teachers called Dave's ESL Cafe.
A lead officer working the case said investigators strongly suspect that postings by Jackson were Neil's, and have told police in Southeast Asia about the possible pseudonym. And two teachers who knew and socialized with Neil told The Associated Press that Neil wrote extensively online under the pseudonym Peter Jackson.
The posts are a window into the mind of a man who comes off as dedicated to teaching, well-travelled and well-spoken - but with a sophomoric sense of humour. Sex is a recurring theme, but there are no references to an attraction to children.
Jackson complained about condoms in South Korea, talked about a nurse who bathed him in a Thai hospital and described rebuffing a man who hit on him in a sauna. He discussed how to delay or skirt police background checks needed for some teaching jobs.
In a posting that was part of an online discussion with several people about pornography, Jackson wrote: "If you're worried about any 'content' there are several ways to encrypt your drive."
"If you want to get rid of old files so no one will see, then simply deleting them will not work," he added.
Kim Scanlan of the Toronto police child exploitation unit said Neil could be extradited to Canada if arrested.
Scanlan said the unit has been trying to learn his identity and where the abuse was taking place for the last couple of years. Police learned he was Canadian after releasing his photo.
Toronto's acclaimed child exploitation unit tries to figure out the identity and whereabouts of suspected pedophiles regardless of nationality.
Investigators have been hunting the man in the photos for three years, since German police discovered online photographs of a man abusing underage Asian boys. The man in the photos was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12 young Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age from six to early teens.
Interpol said that more than 350 people supplied tips to authorities worldwide. Officials are still collecting and analyzing evidence to bring charges if the man is arrested, it said.
-(With files from The Canadian Press)
And the swirl picture:
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