Child predator John Keeler sentenced to 15 years for sex crimes against girls

A former school director who had previously served time in Cambodia for child pornography offenses has been sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for a series of sex crimes against young girls. John Keeler, aged 59, was convicted of debauchery in Cambodia in November 2000 after being found guilty of creating indecent videos featuring girls as young as eight years old, whom he had bribed with sweets. After serving a three-year sentence, he was deported and barred from returning to Cambodia. Keeler, a divorcee and father living in Somerset, was later arrested in the UK on sex offense charges. Last week at Taunton Crown Court, he was convicted of 19 counts of indecent assault and 2 counts of indecency with a child, involving three girls under 16, with offenses spanning from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. He was acquitted of one count of indecent assault. Judge Graham Hume Jones described Keeler as a 'cynical manipulative paedophile' and emphasized that 'you are a danger to young people.' As well as the 15-year jail sentence, Keeler was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register, be disqualified from working with children indefinitely, and was issued a Sex Offenders Prevention Order banning him from playgrounds and public swimming pools. Keeler had fled the UK to continue his abuse in Cambodia after police investigations into current complaints. Previously, he was the director of an English-language school in Phnom Penh and had a long history of sex offenses, dishonesty, and violence convictions. The judge noted that Keeler engaged in grooming victims as 'objects of his sexual gratification' and moved on once they reached puberty. Keeler showed little emotion as the sentence was announced. Detective Superintendent Greg Avis of Avon and Somerset Police described Keeler as 'clearly a dangerous man' and a 'predatory paedophile' who 'constructed a lifestyle around his offending,' adding that the sentence would make the world safer for young people.