A British pedophile teacher who “thought he could run away from his crimes by returning to the UK” was sentenced on Tuesday to ten years in prison for abusing two students while he worked in the United Arab Emirates.
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Paul Shinn, 49, from London, carried out a campaign of grooming and assault over eight years while he was working at a British school in the Gulf state.
The school removed him from his post in March 2019 after learning of the allegations and reported him to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Shinn returned to the UK where he was arrested the following month.
He was found guilty of five counts of child sexual abuse by a jury at Kingston Crown Court on January 28, 2022, the NCA reported on Thursday.
An investigation showed that the primary school teacher groomed two children from the ages of eight and nine, gaining their trust and encouraging them to spend time with him through the offers of gifts and trips.
He sexually assaulted his victims several times and took indecent photographs of them.
Shinn also reportedly forced them to watch sex scenes from movies before moving on to pornography, and showing them condoms, according to the NCA.
He was charged with six counts of child sexual abuse under section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act, which allows British nationals to be prosecuted in the UK for abuse committed overseas.
Shinn was found guilty of five counts including sexual assault of a child under 13 (2011-2015), two counts of sexual activity with a child (2016-2019), and two counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act (2010-2017).
The jury were unable to reach a decision on the sixth charge – sexual activity with a child over 13.
“Shinn positioned himself as a caring and trustworthy teacher in order to befriend children and their families. He then abused their trust in the most horrific way – through the systemic grooming and sexual assault of these children over a number of years,” Ian Truby from the National Crime Agency said in a statement.
“Shinn thought that he could run away from his crimes by returning to the UK. However, the NCA works closely with international partners to ensure British nationals who commit offences against victims overseas are brought to justice.”
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