Finnish paedophile 'abused more than 400 boys'

A Finnish man who detailed in his diary his sexual encounters with more than 400 Thai boys during 15 years is facing charges of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors, police said today.

Evidence against the 42-year-old suspect, who was not identified, was collected from confiscated video tapes, CDs and the man’s own diary entries, Detective Chief Inspector Lars Henriksson said.

“We have concrete evidence against him in the form of child pornography which he himself produced in Thailand,” Henriksson said. “During a house search we found his diary which had very detailed entries about his trips (to Thailand).”

The diary entries indicated that during 25 trips to Thailand since 1989 the man sexually abused 445 boys, ages 12 and 13, Henriksson said. He was arrested by Finnish officers on his return from a visit to Thailand in January.

The investigation indicated the suspect was not involved in any ring nor did he have contacts with other paedophiles, Henriksson said. Charges were expected to be brought against him soon in a southern Finnish court, he said.

The maximum penalty for sexually abusing children in Finland is 10 years in prison.

If brought to trial, it would be the country’s largest court case in terms of the number of victims.