Child Abuser Gets Three Years In Canada

A paedophile has been jailed in Canada for abusing two young boys, after being caught in Dalkeith by Lothian and Borders Police. Officers found pornographic images of children on Graeme Brown’s computer when they raided a house where he was working as an au pair, looking after three young boys.

Police in Dalkeith were alerted to the danger posed by the 24-year-old by police in the United States. Brown had sent naked images of young boys to an undercover detective from New Hampshire who had been posing as a teenage boy in a chat room.

Less than an hour after receiving the call from the US, police from Dalkeith police station had arrested Brown and seized his computer. They also discovered sickening videos of the 24-year-old abusing two young boys, aged eight to ten, among his belongings. The detectives managed to identify the victims as two Canadian brothers and contacted their authorities.

Brown was given a nine-month jail sentence at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in January for possessing hundreds of child pornography files. After completing his prison term in Scotland, he was deported to Ontario on March 13 to face a fresh trial.

The Canadian courts have now jailed him for three years for abusing the young boys whose family had viewed him as a trusted friend. The mother of the two victims told the Evening News that she wanted to thank Lothian and Borders Police for their work.

She added: “Graeme Brown is such a smooth operator, my kids would have never said anything.” Brown had secured his job with the family in Dalkeith through an internet agency and travelled from Canada in August 2004. In September last year he was caught after posting an obscene image of two young boys to undercover US detective James McLaughlin. The officer had been posing as a 14-year-old boy called Brad in a chat room as part of a team policing the internet.

Detective McLaughlin tipped off Detective Sergeant Mike Wynn, from Dalkeith CID, who instigated the raid. A forensic examination of his computer found 332 indecent images of children, including video clips and stills.

DS Wynne said: “There were also images of him abusing children. We carried out an investigation of his activities in the UK and came to the conclusion that he did not abuse children here.

“But we managed to establish the identities of the two youngsters he abused during the course of our interviews with him. We alerted police in Canada and they searched his home there. They found the camera, which was used to take the pictures, and tracked down the victims before putting out a warrant for his arrest.”

Brown, a university graduate, from remote Thunder Bay in Ontario, had been diagnosed in Canada at the age of 17 with suffering paedophile tendencies for boys ten years younger. In his latest court appearance in Ontario, Brown pled guilty to sexual interference and making child pornography before being sent to federal prison.

The victim’s mother said: “I’m a little disappointed, but then there’s nothing that would’ve satisfied me. I’m glad the jail sentence is federal time and I hope he gets some help so he doesn’t do this to someone else.”

Before passing sentence, Justice Dianne Pettit Baig described the abuse as “appalling”. Brown told the court: “Your honour, I’m fully sorry for what I have done and I know there is nothing I will say or do that will reverse the damage I have caused the victims and their family.”