Convicted BC pedophile dubbed ‘Swirl Face’ apologizes in court
Posted April 22, 2016 5:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW WESTMINSTER – A BC man who is notorious for making child pornography that obscured his face with a swirl apologized this afternoon to his victims in Southeast Asia.
Christopher Neil told BC Supreme Court he no longer believes sex with children is acceptable anywhere in the world as his sentencing hearing concluded. The 41-year-old Vancouver-area man’s voice shook as he spoke.
He pleaded guilty in December to five child-sex crimes.
Neil has been held in custody after the RCMP arrested him two years ago on 10 charges, including producing images in Cambodia in 2003.
He was dubbed “Swirl Face” by international media after Interpol released pornographic pictures he took of himself in 2003 disguised by a swirl.
Neil served nearly five years in prison for the unrelated abuse of two boys but was released early and returned to Canada in 2012. He told the court he regrets offences in which he accessed child pornography in Canada in 2013.
His lawyer is asking the judge for a sentence of time served, arguing more jail time is unnecessary.
The judge set a date in June to give his sentencing decision.
