EXCLUSIVE: Paedophile who abused children after guided tour of Myanmar snared by cycling gloves

A DEPRAVED paedophile who went on a sex abuse frenzy of poverty-stricken children after a guided tour of Myanmar was identified by his cycling gloves and watch.

Christopher Behn, 66, admitted ten sex offences against school boys as young as five at a beach resort in the south-east Asian country at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Behn, from Colchester, Essex, spent several nights in the Ngapali Beach area (pictured above) of the country after completing a 13-day guided cycling and sightseeing tour.

It was over four days that he sought out and took indecent images of 11 boys aged five to nine mostly during their lunch breaks to "gratify his depraved sexual cravings," the court heard.

On one day he photographed three boys aged from six to eight who he got to expose themselves to the camera, including one in school uniform, and a fourth child who appeared to have been snapped covertly by Behn.

Two days later he took indecent photographs of two other boys aged seven to eight, one of which seemed to be aware of what was happening.

The next day Behn photographed five boys aged from five to nine exposing themselves.

He also took several pictures of himself sexually abusing the five year-old, but only his hand was visible in some of the images.

A CPS case summary said: "Behn’s predatory offending can be seen to escalate over the four days between November 21 to 24 2016.

"Indecent images taken on the first day spanned 45 minutes, while two days later it lasted three hours.

On the fourth day, when the sex abuse was photographed, it lasted five hours.

The report added: "Taking the time difference, (9.5 hours), into account indicates the majority of the images were taken around lunchtime at locations along the beach where Behn would have known local school children would congregate during their lunch breaks.

"The life-long trauma inflicted on these children can only be imagined – a predatory paedophile who targeted and exploited some of the world’s most vulnerable impoverished young children to gratify his depraved sexual cravings."

Behn's offending in November 2016 only came to light when he was arrested in connection with an unrelated matter as he arrived at Gatwick Airport on February 3 2020.

The CPS refused to say the reason for the arrest at Gatwick Airport.

He refused to provide passwords to any electronic devices, but National Crime Agency (NCA) officers later seized a laptop during a search of his home.

GUILTY: Behn admitted the offences at Chelmsford Crown Court

There were 4,015 photographs found on the hard drive, which had been taken during the trip from November 5 to November 25, most of which were standard sightseeing pictures.

However, officers found 265 indecent images of the 11 children, including 241 of category C, the least serious type, and 24 of category B, which showed actual sex abuse taking place.

The images had been taken by Behn as he abused the children at the beach resort, but none showed his face.

Behn was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child under 13, taking indecent photographs of children and inciting children under 13 to commit sexual activity, on March 11 this year, but he declined to comment during interview.

None of the sex abuse images captured Behn's face, but he was snared by the cycling gloves and wrist watch he wore as he abused the five-year-old.

The CPS summary of the case said: "A distinctive fingerless cycling glove is worn by the adult male, together with a silver coloured wrist watch also being evident.

"The distinctive cycling glove is an identical match to those which can be seen being worn by the defendant in a non-indecent image taken on the same day, and also, taken on November 15 2016.

"A similar looking silver coloured gents wristwatch can be seen being worn by the defendant on his left wrist in both images."

The second image had been taken by another member of the cycling tour.

The summary added: "Of the fifteen other members of the Myanmar 2016 Guided Cycle Tour the following have all provided witness statements, and in some cases photographs taken by them during their 2016 tour in Myanmar which feature the defendant, Christopher Behn."

Behn was then charged with the offences and appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court earlier this month.

This month Behn admitted one count of sexually touching a boy aged 5 on November 24 2016, seven counts of inciting boys aged from five to nine to show intimate areas and two counts of making 241 category C and 24 category B indecent images of children.

He was given conditional bail ahead of sentence next month.