Sex tourist jailed after police sting

Britain's first convicted sex tourist was jailed for two years today for attempting to use his wealth to "exploit and corrupt" a teenage boy in Sri Lanka.

Concert pianist Brian-Michael Parnell was trapped in a sting operation trying to arrange sex through the internet with a 15-year-old boy.

Parnell, 66, who studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Paris Conservatoire, posted an ad on the Gay Teens Of Sri Lanka website using the profile "Velvet Guy" while on a concert tour of South Asia.

He placed his advert on the website in October 2002, asking for a young Sri Lankan boy to have "fun" with, promising "a good time in bed".

After being contacted by the teenager, Parnell emailed him messages and obscene photographs of himself.

But the boy was in fact a child protection agency officer in Sri Lanka. Police later raided Parnell's home in Hornsey.

Today Judge Kenneth Zucker told Parnell he had committed offences which were "prevalent with the ease of communication of the internet".

"There is increasing concern about men from wealthy countries exploiting and corrupting under-age boys and girls in poorer countries,

using their superior financial situation to do so," he added.

"This sentence reflects the gravity with which these offences are viewed both in this country and other countries such as Sri Lanka, and acts as a deterrent to those who might be tempted to commit this type of offence."

Parnell showed "a significant degree of premeditation", and had his intended victim been real there would have been "considerable grooming" via the internet, he said.

Parnell's actions were legal in Sri Lanka, so he was prosecuted as a UK citizen and convicted at Wood Green Crown Court of two charges under the Sex Offences Act.

Outside court Detective Inspector Neil Thompson of Scotland Yard said the sentence would act as "a deterrent to other Britons who wished to abuse children abroad".

He added: "The message to paedophiles at home on their computers is: 'Don't do it - if you do, you don't know who is watching you at the other end of the line'."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in