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Paedophile who worked for Save the Children is jailed
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent29 Jul 2009
A former Save the Children worker who led a double life as a "predatory and devious" paedophile was jailed for four years today.
Sohail Ayaz came to Britain on a two-year visa after molesting and photographing a 14-year-old boy.
Ayaz, who is wanted in Italy in connection with a Romanian child sex ring, was arrested at the charity's HQ this year. Officers had been concerned he might use his job to target "some of the world's most vulnerable children" but their fears proved groundless.
The 35-year-old's home in Barking was searched and thousands of child porn images were recovered. Some depicted six-month-old babies.
Further enquiries revealed the Pakistani father-of-one had also abused a boy in another country that cannot be identified for legal reasons. He forwarded pictures of his assaults to a paedophile in Britain, Southwark crown court heard. Ayaz pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child, two of indecently photographing him, one of distributing the images, and two counts of possession.
Save the Children spokeswoman Ishbel Matheson said: "We welcome the fact that the judge has imposed a sentence which will put him in prison. We do think it is important to stress, however, that although he was briefly employed at Save the Children for just over 12 weeks, some of that time he was under police investigation."
Reader views (1)
A nasty piece of work. I would have felt happier had he been deported rather than imprisoned. Now the tax-payer has to feed and clothe him for the next four years.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 29/07/2009 15:38
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