Brit arrested on child pornography charges in Chiang Mai given suspended sentence

[webfact]

Brit arrested on child pornography charges in Chiang Mai given suspended sentence

 

CHIANG MAI:-- A British father of two and long term resident of Chiang Mai has been given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay a fines totalling 83,000 baht after being found guilty of charges relating to child pornography, sexual abuse and holding a child against their will.

 

On Monday, Fang Provincial Court found Fabian Frederick Blandford guilty of committing lewd acts against children under the age of 15 and was sentenced to three months in jail suspended for two years and ordered to pay a fine of 3,000 baht, reported the Bangkok Post.

 

In another charge related to violating the Human Trafficking Act 2008 and child exploitation, Blandford was given a four year jail term suspended for three years and ordered to pay an 80,000 baht fine.

 

Blandford will also have to report to probation officers and complete 48 hours of community service.

 

Blandford was arrested in January after the Thai authorities received a tip off from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

Images uploaded from an IP address used by Blandford were traced by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a non-profit group funded by the U.S. government.

 

A raid on the home he shared with his wife and two children in the Fang province of Chiang Mai recovered a number of indecent images of children from his computer.

 

Blandford, a fluent Thai speaker, had reportedly spent time as a Buddhist monk and had taught English to school children in Fang.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-09-20

[edwinchester]

Remarkably lenient sentencing considering the offences.

[Asiantravel]

6 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Remarkably lenient sentencing considering the offences.

 

yes I agree because at the very least you would have expected an accompanying order for his deportation?

 

 

[edwinchester]

7 minutes ago, Asiantravel said:

 

yes I agree because at the very least you would have expected an accompanying order for his deportation?

 

 

Good point. One can only hope the British Authorities will not give him a new passport come next renewal now that he's a convicted child sex offender.

[Cockwomble]

Surely this nonce should be deported back to his home country, would guess he may face further charges back there as well.

 

This person is clearly a threat to children, and it is unlikely that his offending will cease

 

 

[LazySlipper]

No way! 

Is that it?

How'd he get away with this so easily?

[worgeordie]

Wow ! not one but two suspended sentences,does

not take much figuring what happened there. 

regards worgeordie

 

 complete 48 hours of community service.not anywhere near children,one hopes.

[colinneil]

Who does he know in the Thai justice department??????

[Asiantravel]

5 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Who does he know in the Thai justice department??????

 

I just can't stop thinking about the astonishing inconsistency of this sentence? it doesn't make any sense at all .

 

I mean even without the sexual offences surely " holding a child against their will " is surely tantamount to kidnapping ?The penalties in USA for just that alone are huge?

 

what I keep wondering.could he have information about someone else which must remain buried.

[smedly]

maybe there is a shortage of teachers

 

 

 

This deeply troubled scumbag needs to be closely monitored

[WinnieTheKhwai]

All of the commenters must know exactly what happened and have studied the courtroom transcripts.  

 

When he was arrested it already seemed based on iffy evidence, so it may even be that these sentences are relatively harsh;  you just can't tell based on the information available.   (Or is anyone psychic?)

[bkkmick]

So, overstay by a year and you get kicked out of Thailand, but he only get a suspended sentence and allowed to stay for what he did. Money obviously talking.

[docshock13]

And Andy Hall gets 4 years and 150k fine. Mind boggling.

[dinsdale]

Guess he forked out a 'bit' more than the fine. 150 yabba gets you life. Mmmmm.

 

[Italian guy]

He's probably a member of this forum as well...

[Jimbo2014]

The only thing that should be suspended is this guys neck from the highest yardarm!

[AlexRich]

" ... committing lewd acts against children ..."

 

If the above statement is backed up by solid evidence I'm stunned that this guy received only a suspended sentence?

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Remarkably lenient sentencing considering the offences.

Me thinks the fine was far far north of 83,000. Methinks he was given a piece of paper and a pencil and told to write a figure on it. My gosh the price was right.

[Asiantravel]

2 hours ago, WinnieTheKhwai said:

All of the commenters must know exactly what happened and have studied the courtroom transcripts.  

 

When he was arrested it already seemed based on iffy evidence, so it may even be that these sentences are relatively harsh;  you just can't tell based on the information available.   (Or is anyone psychic?)

 

 

please explain further who and where it was said that the evidence against him was " iffy " ?

 

[tifino]

 

probably gets a lesser Sentence, as he didn't disfigure the kid's face...

 

 

but... sheesh!!  a Suspended Sentence!!

 

he should have been suspended by his short'n'curlies

 

 

[SOTIRIOS]

...huh....???

 

...how does that make any sense....???

[WinnieTheKhwai]

55 minutes ago, Asiantravel said:

 

please explain further who and where it was said that the evidence against him was " iffy " ?

 

 

There were news articles and a topic here in this forum in January of this year.   If there is solid evidence they tend to name the (number of) kids and the ages, but it didn't go beyond lewd images found on his computer.

 

That said, I don't know any more than you do.

[denkiblue555]

2 hours ago, docshock13 said:

And Andy Hall gets 4 years and 150k fine. Mind boggling.

 

Yes...I think Andy needs to get a hold of this guy's lawyer.

[sahibji]

6 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Remarkably lenient sentencing considering the offences.

something is not tallying.

[sahibji]

with sentences like these i am not sure if child abuse can be controlled.

[Asiantravel]

11 minutes ago, WinnieTheKhwai said:

 

There were news articles and a topic here in this forum in January of this year.   If there is solid evidence they tend to name the (number of) kids and the ages, but it didn't go beyond lewd images found on his computer.

 

That said, I don't know any more than you do.

 

 

well then I don't understand your point?

 

You can't be a little bit guilty and then effectively get off like this guy has? He was found guilty by the court so the question comes back to why did he only receive an astonishingly lenient sentence?I believe that is what is dumbfounding most people on this thread (other than you so it seems?)

[sahibji]

1 hour ago, AlexRich said:

" ... committing lewd acts against children ..."

 

If the above statement is backed up by solid evidence I'm stunned that this guy received only a suspended sentence?

possibly it was not fully backed by evidence.

[awayego]

15 minutes ago, SOTIRIOS said:

...huh....???

 

...how does that make any sense....???

 

It makes sense in the same way that the Andy Hall verdict and sentence makes sense.

The nonsensical Thai 'justice' system makes sense of it!

[Asiantravel]

3 minutes ago, sahibji said:

possibly it was not fully backed by evidence.

 

 

but if it was not backed fully by evidence doesn't the court in most jurisdictions usually find the defendent not guilty?

[Golden Triangle]

Seems to me that Thai justice is a bit of a lottery, sometimes you win sometimes you lose, this guy should have lost and been deported back from wherever he came from.

 

Sheeesh, unbelievable.