This workmanlike documentary offers fresh insight into the capture of Canadian teacher Christopher Neil (pictured), who posted images of himself on the internet abusing a young boy with his face obscured by a swirl graphic effect. The programme features interviews with those who knew Neil, including friends and relatives, home video of him in Thailand, and contributions from the police officers who made the arrest. Covering a trail from Europe to North America and the seedy red light districts of Thailand, this is the inside story of the hunt for the man known as Mr Swirl.
In 2004 Interpol received pictures that showed young boys being sexually abused. More than 200 of these photos had been posted on the internet. The unusual aspect of these pictures was that they showed the perpetrator, who had attempted to disguise his identity by placing a pixellated "swirl" over his face on the photos. Interpol's computer experts managed to "unswirl" the images to reveal the perpetrator's face, but they still had to find his name.
Studying the images, Interpol's officers believed that the brutal crimes may have taken place in Vietnam and Cambodia. They also discovered that the images were uploaded on a computer in a suburb in Vancouver, but they couldn't pinpoint the precise location. In early 2005 Interpol circulated the man's picture to local police, but that drew a blank. In October 2007 Interpol ordered a global public appeal.
The impact was immediate. Yongin, a city 25 miles south of Seoul in South Korea, has a small thriving foreign community, many teaching English as a foreign language. Amy Bowler, a teacher based there, saw the pictures on a website for the foreign community and recognised the man in the pictures as a fellow teacher. She wasn't alone. Others on the website were saying the same thing.
Interpol started to receive messages and all pointed to the same man - Christopher Paul Neil. Now they had to trace him...
Why can't you buy real crime on dvd,starting with the first episodes?
June 27th - 9:01pmamy said...
is this gonna be on again my sky+ never recorded it so annoying
June 26th - 12:51amgillian said...
hi can any1 tell me if real crime the fight for sarahs law gonna be on again as it failed to record on my sky+
March 15th - 9:59amMo Morris said...
Why can't real Crime be watched on catch up? I recorded it but my PVR managed to wipe the last quarter so it's really annoying that i can't see it on the net.
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