Court heard that, over twenty years ago, Paul McKee was a well-known entertainer on Merseyside and across the Northwest of the United Kingdom where as a child’s magician called ‘Professor Paulos’ he entertained the children of Liverpool FC football stars while also acting as the DJ to a Christmas lights switch on in the town of Birkenhead in the Wirral area. McKee lived in Thailand for over a decade as a teacher and the UK trial judge on Monday, David Swinnerton, noted that he had again positioned himself in proximity to young children as an expert pre-sentencing report confirmed that McKee remained a predatory paedophile and a threat to young girls everywhere.
A judge in the UK city of Liverpool raised the prospect that convicted UK paedophile Paul McKee, who was sent down for over 30 years on Monday in addition to control orders imposed by the judge, for horrific crimes committed against young girls including the rape of a 2-year-old and the rape of a 14-year-old under bondage, may have committed similar offences in Thailand. It comes as the Commander-in-chief of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), General Jiraphat Phuridet, on Tuesday, warned any criminal elements or wrongdoers seeking to use Thailand as a bolthole to avoid justice, would be rooted out, arrested and deported back to their home countries as in the case of 57-year-old McKee who fought his deportation back to the United Kingdom after his arrest in Thailand in September 2022. He had been working here for well over a decade as a school teacher leaving behind a wife and young daughter.
On Tuesday, Police Lieutenant General Jiraphat Phuridet, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) chief, warned criminals from around the globe attempting to use Thailand as a place to evade justice that it was a fool’s gambit.
They would be hunted down and arrested as the Royal Thai Police steps up its cooperation with international police forces to bring wrongdoers to justice and protect the public in the kingdom.
General Jiraphat was speaking after 57-year-old UK teacher and children’s entertainer Paul McKee was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment and had other orders imposed by a Crown Court in Liverpool in Northwest Britain, on Monday.
McKee was arrested in Thailand in September 2022.
Jailed for 30 years with other orders on 13 offences against 7 young girls carried out in the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s in Northwest England and North Wales
It is understood that Mr McKee had lived in Thailand for well over a decade.
He was convicted by Liverpool Crown Court in June on 13 offences, all related to the sexual abuse and rape of 7 children in the 1980s, 90s and noughties.
The horrific offences are reported to have occurred over a 24-year period with one of his victims being a 2-year-old girl who was raped by the dangerous paedophile.
The UK man spent time at the notorious Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok as he fought his deportation from Thailand to the United Kingdom following his arrest last year.
At one point during his criminal trial in June, he told the court that he was ready to forgive the women who had made complaints to the police against him based on his campaign of abuse against them when they were children.
The judge in the case, on Monday, Judge David Swinnerton, described this particular aspect of the accused’s defence as ‘sickening’.
Judge agreed with claims in court that McKee was a ‘monster’ as he excoriated him for putting victims through the trauma of a trial and lack of empathy
Described by his accusers in court as a monster, the judge told the court that it was hard to disagree with this assessment.
The trial of the accused was interrupted at one point when a woman surrounded by friends could no longer restrain her anger towards Mr McKee.
‘I want someone to kill him, I want him dead,’ she interjected from the gallery seating area in the court. As she was rushed out of court by concerned friends, she repeated her wish with expletives.
In June, following his conviction, a sentencing report was ordered by the judge before Monday’s healing.
The conclusions were damning.
Sentencing report confirms McKee as a predatory paedophile and continued threat to young girls. Judge called him a ‘danger to children for a long time’
The court heard of McKee’s behaviour towards his victims as ‘subjecting them to sexual abuse and cruel behaviour, which evidences significantly distorted thinking, cognitive deficits in his consequential thinking and a lack of victim empathy.
It described him as a paedophile who ‘represented a continued threat to young children, particularly females. He is currently assessed as presenting a high risk of serious harm of a sexual nature to children females ranging from the ages of 2 to 16 years.’
The judge, commenting on the report on Monday said: ‘I agree, in my judgement, you remain and will remain a danger to children for a long time.’
Judge Swinnerton told McKee that he would remain incarcerated until he was approximately 90 years of age and even then, be subject to licensing requirements and other court orders, among which is an order that McKee must sign the sex offenders register for life while the court also issued an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and restraining order against him.
Judge praised the victims in the case at length
The judge, before he handed down the sentence, took the time to praise the courage of the victims who had pursued charges before the court.
He said they had shown courage and it was remarkable that many of them had been able to raise families after what had happened to them.
One of the accused was impregnated by McKee when she was 14 years old after being tied up by him and subjected to degrading acts while he had sexual intercourse with her.
The victim told the court she would remember that night forever and that she had been used as a sex toy by McKee in years of systemic abuse at his hands.
McKee heard his fate handed down via a video link from prison. He was not in court for his own safety
On Monday, McKee was not in court to hear his fate but was linked to proceedings via a video link from prison. This is understood to have been for his own safety.
The UK man left behind a wife and daughter in Thailand following his arrest last year and his subsequent deportation to the United Kingdom
On Monday, the court heard the prosecutor in the case, Mr Gareth Roberts, describe him as a classic predatory paedophile, capable of extreme acts of violence against very young children.
The prosecutor told the court that McKee had encouraged his victims to watch pornography videos of abuse while he perpetrated his hideous acts on them.
McKee was contacted both indirectly and directly by his victims in the United Kingdom while living in Thailand, he apologised for his actions to them
A notable feature of this case is that Mr McKee had moved to Thailand and was in the country for some years before he was contacted by his brother in the United Kingdom who had been approached by four of McKee’s victims who claimed that they had been treated as sex slaves by the 57 year old when they were young.
In the United Kingdom, while he perpetrated the crimes before his life in Thailand, Mr McKee had worked as a children’s magician, performing publicly as a character known as ‘Professor Paulos’.
Judge David Swinnerton referred to this as he reviewed the evidence in the case on Monday.
‘Your behaviour was predatory and persistent over many years. You created an environment in the house where children wanted to come. You had animals, a pig, and monkeys, you held discos. You worked as a children’s entertainer on the Wirral and in holiday parks known as ‘Professor Paulos’. It is notable that you chose to work in a sphere that would put you in contact with children.’
Judge noted McKee’s career choice in Thailand put him in close proximity to children here as a teacher
The judge significantly noted that McKee had also chosen a career in Thailand which also brought him into close contact with minors.
Law enforcement officials in the United Kingdom have stressed that this is only a matter of speculation at this time as to whether McKee had committed offences while in the kingdom but many criminologists would suggest that it is a possibility that is quite likely.
Finally, the judge described McKee as ‘highly emotional, manipulative, controlling and physically violent.’
He was scathing of Mr McKee’s decision to contest the charges in court saying it betrayed a lack of remorse and empathy for his victims.
Judge acknowledged the strength shown by victims in the case who worked with police since 2017 to bring him to justice for his crimes against children
‘I once again pay tribute to them for their strength and coming forward and their determination and courage to give evidence,’ he said of the victims who had finally filed a report to police against Mr McKee in 2017 which led to the British man’s arrest in Thailand in September 2022.
‘It is remarkable that they have been able to create the lives and families that they have. That has been difficult and they each still experience the effects of the trauma they experienced. No doubt they always will. I have listened carefully to their moving personal statements.’
He said the victim’s strength and bearing were in direct contrast to that of the accused who ‘attacked anyone and everyone you could’ in the course of the criminal proceeding before the court.
The court, in the evidence put before it, heard that the victims in the case first started to come forward 20 years ago, with one of them revealing what had happened to them to members of her family.
However, that victim explained that she did not want the matter reported to the police, and her family refrained from doing so, fearing that she may commit suicide, a tragic outcome which is not uncommon among victims of sexual abuse at a young age.
Police recorded harrowing video testimonies
When four of the women came forward to Mr McKee’s brother years later, he replied to them that he was sorry and asked for their forgiveness.
When police received the complaints in 2017 they set about speaking to all the potential victims in the case and had video testimony, much of it harrowing, recorded.
The defendant Mr Paul McKee when he appeared before the court in June, had been listed as having no fixed abode but originally lived at Wallasey Village in Wallasey within the Wirral area, near Liverpool.
The Wirral Peninsula is located in North West England and is adjacent to the city of Liverpool. It is located between the Rivers Dee, Mersey and the Irish Sea.
The court also heard evidence that some of the victims had contacted McKee directly in Thailand and he had also offered them an apology.
However, he later entered a not-guilty plea when the case came to court in June.
Mr McKee had no prior criminal record before his arrest in September and his trial this year in Liverpool.
McKee a rising star over 20 years ago in the UK’s Northwest entertained children of Liverpool FC stars as ‘Professor Paulos’ and also as a music DJ
It also emerged in evidence that Paul McKee, while styling himself as ‘Professor Paulos’, regularly entertained private parties and the families of at least two-star football players with Liverpool FC.
The entertainer kept monkeys, meerkats and other animals at a ranch-style property he had developed in Wallasey village in the Wirral.
Mr McKee was a Mormon from a religious family with strong links with the Church of Latter-day Saints.
As well as performing as a magician throughout the Northwest region of the United Kingdom including North Wales and at holiday centres, the accused man also performed as a DJ, appearing at many well-known venues in the region.
In 1998, the court heard he was associated with the switching on of the Christmas tree lights at Birkenhead town centre where he was joined by key stars from the famous UK TV show Coronation Street which is recorded in nearby Manchester.
Speaking in defence of the accused, on Monday, his lawyer David Polglase, asked the court not to impose a life sentence while admitting that his client would probably be spending a large proportion of the remainder of his life in prison.
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Further reading:
Thailand tightens screening of foreign English teachers following paedophile arrest
Aussie with Thai wife arrested in Chachoengsao on sex abuse of a minor charge in New South Wales
Thailand tightens screening of foreign English teachers following paedophile arrest
Calls to legalise prostitution in Thailand after Pattaya sex raid on Walking Street this week
