British paedophile who set up advice line for child molesters is sued for damages by five Filipinos who say he abused them in first legal case of its kind
- Douglas Slade being sued by five Filipinos over claims he sexually abused them
- Claimants say he assaulted them before he was convicted of sex crimes in UK
- He fled to the Philippines in 1985 and ‘preyed on children’ who lived in poor areas
- Slade now being sued at High Court in a case thought to be the first of its kind
A British paedophile who campaigned for child sex to be legalised is being sued by five alleged victims who claim he assaulted them while he was abroad – in what’s thought to be the first case of its kind.
Five Filipinos who say they were sexually abused by Douglas Slade, before he was convicted of child sex offences in England two years ago, are suing him for damages at a civil court trial.
The 77-year-old was jailed for 24 years in 2016 for abusing five boys in the UK but claims the new allegations made against him are a ‘fabrication’.
Lawyers believe it is the first time foreign nationals have made such a claim against a Briton in a UK court for alleged crimes that took place abroad.
Slide moved to the Philippines in 1985 and bought a house in a poor neighbourhood where neighbours complained he lured children into his home and sexually abused them.
Douglas Slade is being sued by five Filipinos who say they were sexually abused by him before he was convicted of child abuse at Bristol Crown Court in 2016
Slade (left), pictured with Christopher Skeaping, members of the Paedophile Information Exchange, as he was convicted of 13 offences against children between the 1960s and 1980s
Despite several investigations taking place in the country where he lived for 30 years, Slade was prosecuted by authorities but not successfully convicted of any offences.
He was expelled from the Philippines in 2015 and brought back to the UK to be charged with 13 child sex offences.
Slade had returned to England three years ago and was arrested on arrival at Heathrow Airport by police investigating allegations of child sex abuse in England during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
He had been given a 24-year jail term by a judge in July 2016 at the end of a trial at Bristol Crown Court, after being convicted of abusing five boys in Britain between 1965 and 1980.
Slade, who comes from Bristol but is now in prison, was not convicted of any criminal offence in the Philippines and denies wrongdoing.
The five males at the centre of the new case, the youngest of which was aged ten at the time of the alleged abuse, will give evidence from Manilla via video link.
Justin Levinson, a barrister representing the five Filipinos, told Judge Mark Gargan today that one of his clients was now 20, three were in their late teens and one was 14.
Slade was expelled from the Philippines in 2015 and brought back to the UK to be charged with 13 offences offences of child abuse
Slade was a founder member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) – which Jimmy Savile had been linked to – and campaigned for sex between children and adults to be legalised in the 1970s and 1980s
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He said Slade had abused them in the Philippines between 2009 and 2015 when they were children.
Slade was a founder member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) – which Jimmy Savile had been linked to – and campaigned for sex between children and adults to be legalised in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was first exposed as a paedophilia advocate and dubbed one of the ‘Vilest Men in Britain’ by newspapers which caught him telling fellow sex attackers, ‘if you want to have sex with children don’t bottle it up – do it’.
Slade’s trial heard how he bragged about his prominent position in the paedophile network and ran a helpline to give advice to ‘distressed’ men on how to abuse children who resisted them.
When Slade fled to the Philippines in the 1980s he made money through a business supplying food to hotels and restaurants, while exploiting the country’s poverty and corruption to continually abuse young boys.
In 1995, he was warned he faced up to 40 years jail after being arrested at his previous home in Angeles City for allegedly molesting three boys aged 12 and 13.
Slade targeted young boys for years both in the UK and in the Philippines where he fled in the 1980s but was jailed in 2016 for 24 years
As far back as 1975 Douglas Slade was revealed to be a supporter of sex with children but fled Britain after he was caught on tape boasting that people should just have sex with minors if they wanted
But the charges were dropped after Slade boasted on camera how he could pay off the prosecutor or pay the children’s families to drop the charges in return for money. He said his lawyer would discuss terms with the families ‘like Michael Jackson discussed terms’.
Judge Euan Ambrose said at his sentencing hearing in 2016: ‘Your interest in young boys was well-established. What has happened is your past has caught up with you – a past about which you appear wholly unrepentant.
‘You liked to boast about having been involved in setting them up, whether that was in fact true or not.
‘It reflected your interest in sex with young boys and your wish to see sex between adults and young boys decriminalised.’
Mr Levinson said today his clients had suffered ‘personal injuries’ as a result of Slade’s sexual abuse and wanted compensation.
Lawyers say each claimant hopes to win between £15,000 and £30,000.
Slade denies abusing any of the five claimants and says their allegations are a fabrication.
None of the claimants can be identified for legal reasons, the court heard.
Judge Gargan began analysing the evidence today and the claimants are expected to give evidence on tomorrow.
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