British sex fiend arrested in Phuket

PHUKET: British national Hugh Glass, 57, wanted for multiple sex crimes involving children, was arrested yesterday afternoon while walking along the beach road in Phuket’s key tourism town of Patong.

Col Chayawut Jansomboon of the Immigration Police in Bangkok led officers to arrest Mr Glass on Thaweewong Road at 3:30pm.

The arrest followed a meeting between Jonathan King of the UK-based Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Royal Thai Police Immigration chief Lt Gen Pharnu Kerdlarpphon in Bangkok last Thursday.

At the meeting, Mr King presented Gen Pharnu with evidence that Mr Glass had served a prison sentence in Malta after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a child.

Once it was proved Mr Glass had been previously convicted of a sex crime, Gen Pharnu ordered that his permit to stay to be revoked and that the UK national be deported and handed over to the British authorities.

Mr Glass’ criminal record stretches back to 1974 when he was 18 years old and received a suspended sentence for sexual assault, explained Phuket Immigration Investigator Chidchanok Sakornyen.

Arrested for repeat offenses in the United States in 1982, 1989 and 1990, Mr Glass was handed down a total of 20 years in prison. However, he was released from prison in the US on November 11, 1998.

Mr Glass resurfaced in Malta, where in 2006 he was sentenced to six years in prison for sexual assault of a child.

Released after four years behind bars there, on April 9, 2010, Mr Glass found his way to Thailand were he started working in hotels, Lt Col Chidchanok said.

“Our most recent records show that he arrived in Phuket on February 18 this year,” he added.

However, how long Mr Glass has been in Phuket – and Patong in particular – remains unclear.

Phuket Immigration officer Capt Angkarn Yasanop told the Phuket Gazette that police were currently investigating reports that Mr Glass had sexually assaulted two boys from New Zealand when the order came from the top to move in and arrest him.

The boys were in Patong on holiday with their parents in April last year when the alleged attack occurred.

“After the family returned to New Zealand, the boys told their parents they were sexually assaulted by Mr Glass, who was working at the hotel where they were staying,” Capt Angkarn explained.

“The parents filed a complaint in New Zealand and the New Zealand embassy [in Bangkok] contacted us. While officers were building their case, we were contacted by the UK embassy and requested to deport him,” Capt Angkarn added.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong