Interpol makes worldwide appeal to help identify suspected paedophile

In a first, Interpol issued a worldwide public appeal for help today to identify a suspected paedophile it said was shown sexually abusing children in photos posted on the internet.

The international police organisation said German specialists succeeded in producing identifiable images of the man from the original pictures, where his face had been digitally blurred. But the man's identity and nationality remain unknown, prompting Interpol's public appeal.

"For years, images of this man sexually abusing children have been circulating on the internet. We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public's help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens," Interpol's secretary general, Ronald K Noble, said in a statement.

"We have very good reason to believe that he travels the world in order to sexually abuse and exploit vulnerable children," Noble added.

Interpol, which is headquartered in Lyon in southeast France, posted four reconstructed photos of the man on its website, along with an original image where his face was completely blurred.

The reconstructed photos showed a white man who looked in his thirties, with uncombed short brown hair. One photo showed him wearing glasses; in another he was smiling.

Interpol said it codenamed the manhunt Vico because analysis of the original photographs - around 200 in total featuring 12 different young boys - established that they were taken in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2002 or 2003.

It asked people who recognise the man or who have other information to contact police or the Interpol bureau in their country. It urged them not to take any direct action themselves.