Blacklisted Australian paedophile nabbed in Thailand

BANGKOK - An Australian man not allowed to leave his country because he is on a list of child-sex offenders has been caught in Thailand and will be deported, Thai police said yesterday.

Paul Thompson, 57, who "has committed dozens of sexual offences" on Australian children over "several decades", was arrested while leaving for Cambodia to renew his Thai visa, immigration police said in a statement.

Thompson, who told reporters he was sentenced to two years' jail in 1990 in Perth for "tickling and stroking children in a swimming pool", was put on the Australian National Child Offender Register and required to make regular reports the police.

But Thai police quoted their Australian counterparts as saying Thompson fled to Southeast Asia using various aliases. He came to Thailand in June after being denied entry to Indonesia and Malaysia, Thai police said.

"He is a threat to society," Thai immigration police chief Suwat Tumrongsiskul told reporters.

Australian diplomats in Bangkok were not available for immediate comment.

- REUTERS