Briton given 42 years' jail in Thailand for molesting boys

A Briton has been jailed for 42 years in Thailand for sexually abusing homeless boys.

Robert Errol Woods, 24, received the sentence - one of the longest imposed in the country for paedophilia - after being convicted of child molestation and posting photographs of the abuse on the internet.

Woods, who was brought up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and gave addresses in the Thames Valley and Manchester, was sentenced to 63 years, but this was reduced because "he gave testimonial beneficial to the trial". Woods is believed to have given police information about his internet contacts.

He was sentenced to an extra two months for contempt of court when he banged a table and shouted insults at the judge as the sentence was read out. Woods was arrested at Don Muang airport in Bangkok in January as he tried to board a flight to Dubai.

Police in Manchester had contacted the Thai authorities after finding paedophile images on the internet, which they had traced to Woods. A search of his hotel room revealed incriminating material, including a camera and a computer.

Under new legislation, he could have been tried in Britain. But the Crown Prosecution Service agreed that the proceedings should take place in Bangkok where child welfare agencies had helped to gather evidence.

Woods was charged with committing the offences between August 2002, when he entered Thailand as a tourist, and January this year. Bangkok Criminal Court was told he had enticed his victims, eight boys aged between seven and 13, to a flat he had rented where they were assaulted by him and a number of other men. The acts were photographed and about 300 pictures posted on the internet.

Woods came to the notice of Greater Manchester Police while they were working - in conjunction with the American authorities - on Operation Ore, in which the credit card details of more than 6,000 people were examined for child sex links.

Activists for children's welfar welcomed the severity of the sentence. A spokesman for Fight Against Child Exploitation, a group that had supplied information to the prosecution, said: "This shows the seriousness of the crimes committed by this man, and should send a signal to others."

Woods has 30 days to appeal against conviction and sentence, and can ask to serve part of his jail term in Britain.