A B.C. judge has ruled a man convicted in Thailand for sexually abusing children will be allowed to go free, but Christopher Neil will need to follow strict conditions to keep the public safe.
Provincial court Judge Patrick Chen ruled Neil will have to be watched for the next 18 months, to prove he's not a danger.
Neil's lawyer told the court earlier that the 37-year-old former teacher would follow the conditions allowing his freedom.
Neil pleaded guilty and spent five years in a Thai prison after an international manhunt was triggered when computer experts unscrambled images of him abusing children.
Crown lawyer Gerri-Lyn Nelson asked that a series of strict, probation-like conditions be enforced for two years.
She said she wasn't aware that Neil took any sex-offender treatment programs while he was in custody to limit his risk to society.
Duty counsel Mark Thompson, however, wanted an 18-month term, noting some of the conditions were "quite onerous."
"As distasteful as the Thai court found what he has done, it is not on the scale of the worst sex offender[s]," he told the court.
"One could assume there are worse sex offenders out there."
Some of the conditions Neil is expected to abide by include surrendering his passport, staying away from places where children under 16 congregate and not having access to the Internet. He would also be expected to remain in B.C., and frequently check in with a probation officer.
Neil faces no charges in Canada, but police arrested him when he arrived at Vancouver's airport last week using a section of the Criminal Code aimed at protecting public safety.
Officers sought the protective order under Section 810.1 because they believe he is a risk to re-offend.
Neil was arrested in Bangkok in the fall of 2007 after police seized images from a storage locker depicting him engaged in sex acts with children.
He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two boys, and was sentenced.
Court heard Neil was put on a plane back to Canada after getting amnesty from the Queen of Thailand for good behaviour while in prison.
His sentence was initially set at six years, six months.
The manhunt began in 2004, when police in Germany discovered several hundred pictures of a person engaged in sex acts with boys. The images were being distributed online, and the man's face was obscured by a filter.
Police removed the swirl - which later prompted international media to dub Neil "Swirl Face." They also determined the images were coming from a computer IP address located in Maple Ridge.
Interpol led the worldwide search that located Neil teaching English in Korea. He fled to Thailand, where he was apprehended.
The RCMP's Integrated Child Exploitation unit has said they are not pursuing a further sex-tourism investigation against the man because that would be considered "double jeopardy."
However, police say they remain mindful of his case and would never entirely close the possibility of another investigation related to possible offences in other countries.
Canada's sex tourism laws, enacted in 1997, ensure the country can prosecute a citizen who commits crimes such as sex offences overseas.
According to the RCMP's Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, the law has been used five times since its inception.
