British paedophile gets 15 years

Robert David Hastings appears at a police news conference after his arrest in Udon Thani in November last year (Bangkok Post File Photo).

A British man expelled from Thailand last year to face child sexual abuse charges has been jailed for 15 years.

Robert David Hastings, 62, who was teaching English in Udon Thani at the time of his arrest, was convicted of 10 counts of indecent assault and three counts of indecency with a child in Bristol Crown Court last month.

He was sentenced on Friday, according to the website of the Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

Hastings was arrested last November at Kumphawapi School in Kumphawapi district of Udon Thani. He was held at the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok and deported in February this year.

The offences were all committed in the 1990s against a girl in the Weston-super-Mare area, police said. They began when the girl was four years old and continued until she was nine.

The victim contacted police in February 2011 and gave a video statement about her ordeal.

"Further inquiries found Hastings had been living in Thailand since 2005 and so work began on carrying out a full and thorough investigation which would lead to his expulsion," the Avon and Somerset Constabulary said.

"Robert Hastings is a deceptive and cruel sexual offender who took advantage of a vulnerable child and subjected her to some truly awful offences," said Acting Det Sgt Martin Davies, of Bristol Investigations.

“I have tremendous admiration for the victim for finding the courage to report these crimes to us, and then being able to endure the long wait while the expulsion and judicial processes progressed."