NZ-based paedophile jailed for filming children on Croatian beach

Ray was caught filming children on a beach in Croatia. Photo / Thinkstock

A New Zealand-based man has been jailed in Croatia after he was caught using a camera hidden inside a fake car key to film naked children at the beach.

And it's been revealed he's been convicted on similar charges before.

David Thomas Ray, 62, originally from the UK but who had been living in New Zealand, was sentenced to two years and 10 months behind bars on child sex abuse imagery offences.

He was arrested in August last year when beach-goers at at beach in Icici, Croatia reported him to police for filming children.

Police discovered he was using a camera hidden inside a fake car key, and later found 23 child sex abuse videos on a computer at his rented apartment - plus five of naked children he had filmed at the beach.

Ray told the court he had been ''drinking too much that day'', and was high on drugs.

''I also took an ecstasy pill. I did not know what I was doing'', he said.

He tried to explain the child abuse imagery found on his laptop as having belonged to the previous owner of his second-hand laptop.

''I had no idea it was in there,'' he said.

Judge Sandra Juranovic said the court took into consideration that he admitted to the charges and that he was a father-of-two.

However, the court revealed they had confirmation from authorities in New Zealand and the UK that the Briton had already been sentenced on similar charges.

Ray will serve his prison term in Rijeka in western Croatia.