Paedophile campaigners convicted of sexual assaults against boys

Douglas Slade and Christopher Skeaping, who campaigned for legalisation of sex with children, caught after victims spoke out

Two men who were involved with a notorious group that campaigned for the legalisation of sex between adults and children have been convicted of abusing young boys.

Douglas Slade, 74, and Christopher Skeaping, 72, who were members of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), were caught after five victims, now middle-aged men, spoke out about how they were abused.

Slade, who fled from the UK in 1985, was extradited from the Philippines to face charges dating back as long as 50 years and was put on trial at Bristol crown court alongside Skeaping, a former racing driver.

Slade, who used to live in Knowle West, south Bristol, pleaded not guilty to 13 sexual assaults committed against five victims between 1965 and 1980 but was convicted of all offences after a two-week trial.

Skeaping, from Hounslow in west London, was convicted of one count of indecent assault relating to an incident involving Slade and a 15-year-old boy in 1980.

Their victims were troubled boys from broken families and were passed between “predatory” men with a sexual appetite for children. They enjoyed the affection and often did not realise they were being “corrupted and exploited by older men for their own selfish pleasure”, the court heard.

Rupert Lowe, prosecuting, said the men “shared an interest in sex with young boys and they each knew several other men who shared that same interest”. One victim remembered Slade boasting about being a founder member of PIE.

Lowe said: “They were both involved in an organisation called the Paedophile Information Exchange. It seems strange now that such an organisation can have existed without being shut down immediately but it did.”

The court was told Slade ran a information exchange for men who wanted abuse children. One victim told the court: “They phoned seeking advice about how to deal with children – to be sexually active with them. It was almost like a helpline.”

Of one particular call, he added: “He clearly had a child with him and he was saying that he wanted to have sexual relations with this child and that clearly this child was resistant. He was seeking to speak to someone who could counsel him what to do in order to have his way with this child.”

Slade’s victims were aged between 10 and 15. He abused one boy up to three times a week between 1976 and 1978. The boy was made to perform a sex act and play-fight naked with another boy for Slade’s entertainment at a house in Clifton, Bristol.

Slade was extradited from the Philippines shortly after he was arrested, but not charged, by Filipino police on suspicion of sex offences against local children. Before being deported, Slade was living in the red-light district of Angeles City in a house opposite a primary school.

He allegedly lured children inside, paying them as little as £2 to pose for lurid photos and was dubbed the “pork pie paedophile” because he set up a company selling food to western expats.

Skeaping was arrested while on licence, after he was jailed in 2009 for sex offences against a 12-year-old boy in the 1980s.

In a victim impact statement, one of Slade’s victims said: “He is evil and a coward who has not shown any remorse for his actions.”

A spokesman for the National Crime Agency described Slade as “a prolific abuser who thought he could act with impunity”. “We continue to work with partners in the Philippines and others around the world to tackle the threat posed by UK transnational child sex offenders, and to safeguard victims and those at risk of abuse,” the spokesman added.

An NSPCC spokesman said: “The Paedophile Information Exchange was an appalling organisation predominantly consisting of men who tried to fool the world that they cared for children when in reality they wanted to abuse them.

“Their sham protestations about caring for children have been rightly exposed yet again by this case which underlines how dangerous they were then – and still are.

“Slade and Skeaping targeted vulnerable youngsters in a predatory manner, having little regard for the consequences of their behaviour. Whether they believed their actions were consensual or not, they were committing a criminal offence against children who deserved to be protected from such abuse.”

The men will be sentenced on Friday.