Catholic man sought

A Maple Ridge man who was a substitute teacher at Archbishop Carney Regional Secondary for five days this year is the subject of an international manhunt, accused of sexually abusing children.

Christopher Paul Neil is being sought in Asia by Interpol for alleged crimes of sexual exploitation of young children in Vietnam and Cambodia.

German police have been trying for three years to identify the man shown in Internet photos sexually abusing boys in Vietnam and Cambodia. Police eventually were able to unscramble the man's face in a photo, and it was released last week.

Neil, 32, has been teaching in various Asian countries in recent years and was working at a school in South Korea until last week. He is believed to have left for Bangkok, Thailand, after learning his photo had been posted online by Interpol.

Vancouver's Catholic school board confirmed that Neil did 5 days of substitute teaching at Archbishop Carney School in Port Coquitlam in late April and May of this year. Doug Lauson, superintendent of the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese, said all appropriate laws, policies, and processes were followed by both the superintendent's office and by the high

No teaching contract

school. That included a criminal record check.

Lauson said he was unable to release confidential information about Neil, but confirmed he was a certified teacher in the province of British Columbia.

Neil applied for a teaching position with the Catholic school board this past March. He was interviewed at the superintendent's office and all the appropriate documents for a teaching position application were completed and processed, said Lauson.

Neil was never hired at any CISVA school on any teaching contract. However, he did substitute at Archbishop Carney for the five days.

Some media have reported that Neil once taught at St. Patrick's Elementary School in Maple Ridge in the late 1990s. He was not so employed, said Lauson, but it appears that he did volunteer as a PREP catechism teacher at the parish.

The Seminary of Christ the King in Mission also confirmed that Neil was a student there from 1995 to 1999. He left after being told he would not be invited to continue studies for the priesthood.