B.C. authorities issue alert about release of pedophile known as 'Swirl Face'

CTV National News: 'High-risk offender' released Authorities are warning the public that a pedophile known as 'Swirl Face' has been released and is living in Vancouver. Ben Miljure reports.

The B.C. government has issued a public warning about a convicted pedophile who is now living in Vancouver following his release from prison.

The corrections branch of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General issued the warning Sunday along with a list of some of Christopher Neil's 18 court-ordered conditions, calling him a high-risk sex offender.

Neil, 42, is infamously known as "Swirl Face" – a moniker he was given by international media after police released pictures of a man engaged in sex acts with boys, showing his face disguised by a digital swirl. He was handed a 5 ½-year prison sentence last June for producing online child pornography.

Neil, who is from the Lower Mainland city of Maple Ridge, pleaded guilty in December 2015 to two charges of sexual interference in Cambodia in 2003, one charge of possessing child pornography in Maple Ridge in 2007, and two charges of accessing child pornography in Vancouver in 2013.

He also served five years in prison in Thailand, for the sexual abuse of boys as young as nine years old.

Neil's sentencing brought an end to over a decade of investigation.

But with credit for time served, he is out of prison less than 10 months after being sentenced.

"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," BC Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Rose said in a statement to CTV News.

Rose said she couldn't discuss what sort of facility Neil will be living in, or how staff in that facility will be supervising him.

The public notification alert lists five of the conditions Neil has to abide by, including not contacting anyone under the age of 16 or loitering on the property or sidewalk immediately adjacent to any park, playground, school ground, swimming area, daycare, community centre, arcade, library or residence where people under the age of 16 can be expected to be present.

Neil is also banned from owning a computer or cellphone.

Brian McConaghy, a retired forensic scientist who worked for the RCMP on the Neil investigation, said he's not surprised by the turn of events.

"It's another step in that continuum of frustration," he said. "It's hard to take."

McConaghy runs a charity dedicated to helping sex crime victims in Cambodia, and helped track down one of Neil's victims for police.

He agrees with the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General's classification of Neil as a high-risk sex offender.

"I've seen quite enough of his evidence, photographic evidence of numerous young children abused by him and when you see the pattern of behaviour in Asia, these guys are not easily reformed. They don't change, they're wired this way. So anybody with a reputation like this, with the amount of the assaults in his history, he's a risk," McConaghy said.

Despite Neil's freedom, McConaghy said some good did come out of his case. The Canadian justice system is re-evaluating how pedophiles and people convicted of sex crimes are convicted.

"We have some terrible case law and precedence for sentencing in Canada but we are gradually overcoming them. That's the encouragement to me," he said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Ben Miljure