RICHMOND (NEWS1130) – A convicted pedophile originally from Maple Ridge who sexually abused children overseas has been released from custody in Metro Vancouver.

Christopher Paul Neil was arrested by police under a preventive section of Criminal Code on Friday at Vancouver International Airport. He arrived back here after serving five years in a Thai prison.

A provincial court judge in Richmond ordered Neil released but imposed 12 conditions on him for 18 months; Neil is not allowed to be with anyone under 16-years-old, he must avoid parks, playgrounds and other areas children may gather, stay off the internet, and surrender his passport and other travel documents.

Neil must also go to a psychiatric clinic but he is not required to accept treatment or take medication.

His lawyer Mark Thompson says Neil won’t be staying with his family, but won’t say in what city Neil plans to live.

“I understand the police are going to be watching him for some time anyways,” he notes. “I don’t think in the short term they need to be worried about him. In the medium term, there’s been treatment ordered. I presume he’s going to follow that through and that’s the best that anybody can do.”

As for his future, Thompson says Neil doesn’t know what he will do next.

“He just got off the airplane a couple days ago. He’s got to get a job of some kind, whether it’s something that doesn’t require contact with the public or whatever. He does want to work, though,” Thompson says, noting Neil taught English in prison in Thailand.

Brian McConaghy is with the victims’ rights group Ratanak International, and has mixed feelings on Neil’s release.

“I’m always sad when a child predator is released into the general public. However on balance, given the legal circumstances we have in Canada, I’m pleased that we do have conditions [placed] on him,” he says.

Neil’s case gained notoriety in 2007 when police widely released video images unscrambling an Internet photograph of Neil. He became the subject of an international manhunt when he was no longer disguised by a digital swirl in pictures of abuse posted online.