A paedophile was spotted at a boat party with underage guests after he was invited by a think tank supported by several high profile Conservative MPs.

Richard Neate, 28, of Gunning Way, was convicted of possessing child porn after being found with indecent images of children as young as six years old and a video of a man having sex with a dog.

He had previously told police in 2017 he had been ‘running a business selling adult porn to other adults’ but this had spiralled into him viewing the indecent material.

Richard Neate, 28, of Gunning Way, was convicted of possessing child porn after being found with indecent images of children as young as six years old (Picture: Cambridge News/BPM MEDIA)

The Adam Smith Institute, who invited him to the annual The Next Generation party, claimed they were unaware they had invited a paedophile and initially said the party was only for over 18s but then admitted some 16-year-olds were aboard.




The think tank is favoured by several well-known Conservative politicians including Jacob Rees-Mogg.

One guest at the boat party said the paedophile’s appearance came after a friend was banned from attending the same party for criticising the group publicly.

She said: ‘It’s 2018, and a think-tank lets men get away with being literally sex offenders, but not women who express dissatisfaction. There were under 18s on the boat.’

Other guests who attended the invite-only party on July 3 complained to officials that Neate had been allowed onboard.

But bosses allegedly remained silent and did not listen to their complaints.

Another guest said: ‘Many guests, some who were underage, wanted something to be done then the ASI did nothing and ignored it’.

The event was the annual celebration for their The Next Generation group, an important social event for young conservatives.

Neate avoided jail in October 2017 with a three-year community order and 150 hours of unpaid work and was put on the sex offenders’ register for five years (Picture: PA)

On its website the institute brands itself a ‘network for classical liberals and libertarians under the age of 30.’

It meets in Westminster ‘most months of the year.’

Neate avoided jail in October 2017 with a three-year community order and 150 hours of unpaid work. He was put on the sex offenders’ register for five years after more than 200 videos and images were found on his computers.

He was originally caught after police investigated a series of tweets he had sent. After searching his hard drives they found the horrific abuse images.

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There were 129 of the worst category A ‘moving’ images discovered by police, as well as 76 category B and eight category C pictures.

Neate admitted performing sex acts while watching the material and said he was sexually interested in children about 15 years old.

Judge David Farrell QC told Neate ‘You won’t be getting a second chance’ after letting him stay in the community under close watch.

He appeared at the ASI party less than a year into his punishment.

Recent guests at the ASI party have included former MPs Liz Truss, Douglas Carswell and former Brexit minister David Davis, though they weren’t in attendance at the boat party.

Matt Kilcoyne, head of communications at the Adam Smith Institute, said: ‘The Next Generation series of events is for those between the ages of 18 and 30 interested in the ideas of classical liberalism.

‘The safety of attendees at our events is of the utmost importance. Our boat party, held annually, was conducted with a company that operates a strict policy of photo ID for those under the age of 21.



‘Thank you for bringing to our attention that someone under the age of licence could have attended.

‘Over 300 invitations were sent out from an bulk email list. Unfortunately due to plus ones being invited by guests it might have been possible someone boarded the boat that should not have done so.

‘Mr Neate was invited automatically as the invitation list was copied over from a previous year.

‘We’ve made it clear to Mr Neate that he is not able to attend future events.’

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