Perverted scoutmaster may have hundreds of victims
A member of Britain’s most notorious paedophile group admitted 45 child sex crimes as police launched a hotline for the hundreds potential victims he may have abused while working as a teacher and scoutmaster.
Andrew Frost, 70, joined the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) in 1978 but was not struck off the teaching register until 1996, despite convictions for child sex crimes in the early Nineties.
He taught English at schools around the country, rose up to be a senior figure in the Scouts and even adopted a child.
Frost was jailed in 1993 and 1998 and later linked to the biggest international investigations into child abuse online, but was free to travel abroad when his name was removed from the Sex Offenders’ Register in 2008.
He is known to have spent time in France, Spain and Sweden and was arrested in Thailand’s Pattaya – known to be popular with sex tourists – in February 2013.
Frost, who changed his name from Andrew Tracey in 2014 and went on the run, was finally tracked down to Alicante, in Spain and arrested under a European Arrest Warrant last year.
He now faces death behind bars after admitting the historical abuse of two male pupils in the UK in the late 1980s and 1990s and nine boys, aged between 10 and 14, in Thailand between 2009 and 2013.
Living off his teacher’s pension, Frost lured impoverished youngsters to his foreign home to swim or play computer games, then took advantage of them.
He forced them to perform on webcam for a sick friend in the Netherlands and even made one boy make ‘love heart’ gestures and blow kisses.
Frost would then reward them with gifts of sweets and small sums of money between £2 and £68, which the Old Bailey heard would have been a ‘small fortune’ to their families.
Prosecutors said it is one of the worst cases they have ever come across, while a dedicated NSPCC helpline has been set up as police fear there could be many more victims yet to come forward in the UK.
Grey-haired Frost appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey today (Weds) wearing glasses and a maroon sweater over a shirt to plead guilty to a string of child sex crimes.
He denied similar charges, but prosecutor Sally-Ann Hales QC said it was not in the public interest to proceed with a trial.
The court heard Frost attacked two male pupils while working as an English teacher at a school in the West Midlands.
But the most recent charges relate to the abuse of nine young Thai boys.
‘The victims describe being introduced to Frost,’ said the prosecutor.
‘Often by other boys or by family members.
‘But having been introduced one way or another, they attended his address in Thailand where there was a pool to swim in, computer games to play and many of them mentioned sweets being available.’
She said Frost would then touch them sexually or rape them before offering them sweets or other rewards for their behaviour.
‘He regularly filmed the sexual activity, directing them how to behave for the camera,’ Ms Hales continued.
The victims also spoke of physical violence, with one victim recalling how he was dragged out of Frost’s car with a belt around his neck before his attacker threatened to throw him down a well.
Another told how Frost caned two boys with a metal ruler until they cried.
But the prosecutor said: ‘They cannot be prosecuted. They are offences committed in Thailand.
‘The prosecution say the use of violence and the witnessing of violence was not all of the time.
‘It was nonetheless witnessed sufficiently often by those boys so that it was a means by which one can be reasonably confident there was an element of control by this defendant and they would have been reluctant to report what was happening to them.
‘These were not wealthy boys, they came from impoverished families to whom amounts of Thai That of amounts of between £2.28 and £68.53 would be a small fortune.’
One of the victim’s mother’s told how she was ‘overwhelmed with sorrow’ after discovering her son had been abused.
‘Andrew deceived me. He lied to me about helping and supporting my son’s education, them molested him,’ she said.
‘I thought he would be a kind, generous foreigner who liked children, but he groomed my son.’
Frost joined the PIE in 1978 and his links to the organisation were known at least as far back as 1986 when the Catholic Church refused his application to adopt a child.
Yet he taught at schools in east London, Hertfordshire and the Midlands from the 1970s and it was not until 1996 that he was finally banned.
Frost was also a senior figure in the Scouts until 1991 – a year before he was convicted of possessing indecent images of children – and police confirmed he was allowed to adopt a son from a local authority.
He was jailed for a year for allowing his premises to be used for sex with an underage girl in 1993 and a former colleague told police he may present a risk to children the following year.
Frost was jailed for a year at Luton Crown Court in 1998 for indecently assaulting a boy and added to the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.
He is known to have moved to Guernsey, where he was investigated as part of Britain’s biggest ever computer crime probe, known as Operation Ore, centring on an American paedophile website.
Frost was later linked to a similar investigation stemming from Canada, known as Operation Spade, but neither probe resulted in charges and he was free to travel abroad after coming off the Sex Offenders’ Register in 2008.
He was arrested by Thai police in 2013 for abusing young boys, but fled back to Britain before he was prosecuted.
The Thai authorities did not issue an international arrest warrant and police had no power to stop him leaving the UK.
He was eventually tracked down to Alicante in Spain and Frost was arrested on 17 March 2016 after a European Arrest Warrant was issued.
Last year Frost 22 charges of sexually abusing children in Thailand and distributing indecent images.
The case can be reported today (weds) after he pleaded guilty to 17 more charges relating to children in Thailand and six counts of buggery involving two of his former pupils in the UK.
The charges include rape, sexual assault, causing or inciting sexual activity with a child and making indecent images of a child.
Ruona Iguyovwe for the CPS said: ‘There has been harrowing evidence which reveals Frost has systematically abused vulnerable young boys.
‘He has exploited them and he has exploited their situation.
‘This case ranks as one of the most serious I have dealt with as a prosecutor – one of the most serious I have come across.’
‘The offending involved exploiting the boys’ circumstances and backgrounds in order to take advantage of them and to sexually exploit them.
‘He was a person who the children thought was friendly and generous.
‘They went to his house to play computer games and swim – that was part of the draw. Then he exploited that relationship.’
Police, who described Frost as a ‘predatory paedophile’ and a ‘dangerous individual’ hope the publicity will encourage any other victims to speak out and said they are also working with forces in France, Sweden, Spain to identify abuse.
National Crime Agency (NCA) deputy director Andy Brennan said: ‘We know that Andrew Frost, or Tracey, was a teacher, which would have given him access to children in the UK over many years.’
He said the force are working with the NSPCC, who have set up a dedicated helpline with the number 0800 3280904.
Frost, of Callie Canaria, Gran Alacant, Santa Pola, Alicante, Spain, pleaded guilty to three separate indictments.
The first included one count of rape, one of sexual assault, six of sexual assault of a child under 13, seven of causing or inciting sexual activity with a child under 13, five of causing or inciting sexual activity with a child under 16, one of taking indecent images of a child and one of distributing indecent images of children.
The second included two charges of rape, three of sexual assault of a child under 13, four of causing or inciting sexual activity with a child under 13, one of making indecent images of children, one of sexual activity with a child under 13, one of sexual activity with a child under 16 and five of penetrative sexual activity with a child under 16.
The third, relating to the abuse of two former pupils, included 13 charges of buggery, five indecent assaults of a child and three counts of indecency towards a child.
