Convicted UK paedophile Paul Prestidge arrested in Phnom Penh

A convicted British paedophile has been arrested at his home in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district after UK authorities asked their Cambodian counterparts to keep on eye on his activities.

Paul Prestidge, 35, from Plymouth in the UK, was convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2007 for sexually abusing young boys in his care in his role as a scout master. During his trial it became clear that he regularly encouraged them to undress and that he took naked pictures of them. During the trial he was placed on UK sex offenders’ register for life.

In March 2010 Prestidge breached a sentencing agreement when he travelled to Spain and failed to return. Since then, he has been subject to an arrest warrant.

Despite this he seems to have lived undetected in Spain where he worked as a teacher. At one school there are allegations that he abused boys there by filming them naked while they showered, according to a Facebook group dedicated to monitoring such issues.

Prestidge arrived in Cambodia in 2014 and soon secured a teaching role at Hope International School. It’s not clear if his employers in Cambodia requested a criminal record check or looked into his background before employing him. According to one blog, it seems he used the name Paul Evans-Prestidge in Cambodia. He also joined the amateur theatrical group, Phnom Penh Players, where he used the alias Paul Evans.

Prestidge is currently being held by Cambodian authorities prior to being returned to England. It’s not clear what criminal charges, if any, he will face in the UK.