Lawyer tells B.C. court child sex offender should be released on time served
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — More jail time is unnecessary for a notorious British Columbia pedophile who obscured his face behind a swirl in photos of himself abusing boys in Southeast Asia, his lawyer argues.
Christopher Neil, 41, has taken responsibility for the 2003 child-sex crimes that prompted international media to dub him “Swirl Face,” defence lawyer Mark Thompson told a B.C. Supreme Court.
He said further incarceration won’t help in Neil’s rehabilitation or reintegration now that he has pleaded guilty to five charges involving sex-crimes with children in Cambodia and child pornography in Canada.
Thompson told the judge on Friday that he and Crown are not far apart on sentencing, which involves a complicated formula taking into account the crimes that Neil admitted to in December.