David Graham: Man who abused boy in Cambodia after paying him 99p jailed in Britain under new sex tourism laws

A sex tourist paid a teenage orphan 99p to grope him on the streets of Cambodia, it emerged today.

Fish and chip shop owner David Graham, 47, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to sexual activity with a boy of 14 in Cambodia in April 2006. He was arrested in France last year after six years on the run.

Graham, originally from Bournemouth, Dorset, was jailed for 21 months and ordered to pay £2,500 costs. He today became only the second man to be jailed under a law designed to catch sex tourists.

Jailed: Fish and chip shop owner David Graham, 47, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to sexual activity with a boy of 14 in Cambodia in April 2006. He was arrested in France last year after six years on the run

The traveller was caught after charity workers spotted him - and traced him back to the UK. But he fled to France while on bail and was started running a fish and chip shop in Perpignan.

At the time of the offence he was aged 40 and had been hanging around the riverside area outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh when charity workers spotted him approaching street children.

Action Pour Les Enfants Investigators, whose aim is to stamp out child exploitation, followed him as he made his way back to his hotel. He beckoned over the boy, who had been sniffing glue.

The taxi driver and former hardware store worker was then videoed for nearly an hour sitting on a bench with his arm around the boy - who had run away from his aunt after his parents had died.

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He had his hand on the boy and was then seen putting the boy’s hand down his shorts in the incident which lasted half an hour and for which the youngster was paid 6,000 Riel, worth £0.99.

Graham flew out of Cambodia the day after, but investigators traced his name from hotel records.

Ten days later the father of three was again spotted in the capital chatting to children and was seen buying them food and clothes and taking them to restaurants in April 2006.

The charity found the boy and he told them ‘the man held him by the wrist and put his hand inside the man’s shorts... He tried to take his hand away but the man held his hand there. He was scared.’

UK police were alerted and Graham was arrested at his home in Bournemouth two months later.

Caught: At the time of the offence Graham was 40 and in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh (file picture) when charity workers spotted him approaching street children

Prosecutor Caroline Haughey said: ‘He said he travelled to Cambodia as part of his love for travelling. He denied seeking out children but accepted he befriended street children.’

However while on bail he fled to France and spent six years on the run until French police traced him to a fish and chip shop he and his fiancée were running in Perpignan earlier this year in January.

'This was a deliberate and sophisticated act of travelling abroad to find a vulnerable victim'

Caroline Haughey, prosecuting

French detectives found he had a British passport in a false name. He was extradited back to England and initially pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a boy under 13 and the 14-year-old in March.

But today at the Old Bailey, Graham admitted sexually assaulting the 14-year-old. The other count remains on file.

Ms Haughey told the Old Bailey: ‘This was a deliberate and sophisticated act of travelling abroad to find a vulnerable victim.

‘The victim was specifically targeted because of his age, lack of education and cultural background. The victim was unlikely to report the crime and was paid after the sexual activity.

‘The length of time of the activity was at least half an hour but fell short of an hour.’

His barrister Christopher Strachan said: ‘His interest was in temples and wildlife. What happened on this occasion he acted out of character on that day in April 2006.

Abroad: While on bail Graham fled to France and spent six years on the run until French police traced him to a fish and chip shop he and his fiancée were running in Perpignan (file picture) earlier this year in January

‘He says he was beckoned over by the street child, he did not beckon the boy over. It was touching. It was the sort of activity Mr Graham has never been involved with before.’

Sentencing, Judge John Bevan QC said: ‘It’s an aggravating feature knowing you were guilty, you ran away.

‘You evaded responsibility and racked up huge police costs of £25,000-plus over a period of six years and you pleaded guilty today indicating it last week, having lied in your defence statement maintaining nothing had happened.

'You evaded responsibility and racked up huge police costs of £25,000-plus over a period of six years'

Judge John Bevan QC

‘I am not interested if you paid money to the victim, a street child in Cambodia sniffing glue. I am not particularly interested in whether you were a sex tourist or a tourist who decided to engage in sex.

‘I’m bound to say there is not much you have done to assist yourself in relation to this matter. It’s taken a long time to catch up with you.

‘This is by no means the most serious offence, but you met this child of about 14 (and) put his hand under your shorts for several minutes.’

Graham was ordered to pay £2,500 towards the cost of the UK police investigation and sign the sex offenders register.

He was prosecuted under Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which allows UK nationals to be dealt with in Britain for offences committed abroad.

The first prosecution involved Barry McCloud, who was jailed for life in 2010 for sex offences against a girl in Goa, India.