Prolific paedophile faces rest of his life in jail after admitting 45 sex crimes against children

A serial paedophile is facing the rest of his life behind bars after admitting 45 sex offences against children in Britain and abroad in what has been described as one of the worst cases in British legal history.

Retired English teacher Mark Frost, formerly known as Andrew Tracey, 70, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to a catalogue of abuse against nine children in Thailand between 2009 and 2012.

Frost’s defence warned that because of his age, Frost could be facing a “de facto” whole life sentence.

Frost’s shocking crimes detail years of historic abuse against children as young as seven.

Since the allegations first emerged in Asia, two former pupils of a school in Worcestershire have come forward claiming they too were sexually assaulted in the 1990s.

The former teacher had sex with one of the boys in a school store room and during playtime breaks as well as at his home where he lived with his adopted son, and in a car park in Woking, the Old Bailey heard.

He admitted charges relating to the historic abuse, although one of the victims died before he was brought to account.

MORE: British academic claims to have found will left by Alexander the Great
MORE: Moose on the loose after crashing through basement window into family’s living room

The crimes included multiple rapes, indecent assault, inciting children to engage in sexual activity and making indecent images.

The National Crime Agency believes he may have assaulted many more youngsters he had contact with through his 25-year career in schools and as a senior Scouts volunteer.

Prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe said: “This ranks as one of the most serious I have dealt with as a prosecutor.

“Sentence is obviously a matter for the courts but we would rank it as one of the most serious ones we have come across.”

Frost was the focus of a complex international investigation involving the National Crime Agency and authorities in Canada, Thailand, the Netherlands and Spain.

In 1978, he subscribed to the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), an international organisation of people who traded obscene material.

In 1986, the unmarried sexual predator tried to adopt a son via the Catholic Church and was turned down, only to succeed through a local authority, the NCA said. Adoptive father and son are now estranged.

Having joined the Scouts in 1967, he reached a senior position but resigned in 1991 before his first conviction.

In 1992, he admitted possessing indecent photographs of a child and was fined £200 by Evesham magistrates.

The following year, he was jailed for a year at Worcester Crown Court for allowing his premises to be used for drugs and sex with an under age girl.

It was not until three years later that Frost was banned from teaching by the Department for Education.

Then in 1998, he was jailed for a year at Luton Crown Court for indecent assault on a male under 16 and put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

There followed an 11-year gap in known offending during which time Frost led a nomadic lifestyle moving from place to place, the NCA has said.

Police in Guernsey began an investigation into Frost in the early 2000s under the international Operation Ore probe into indecent images of children on the internet.

But once he was taken off the sex offenders’ register, he moved to Thailand where he continued abusing boys by grooming them with computer games and swimming.

He skipped bail before he could be prosecuted by Royal Thai Police and returned to Britain where police were unable to act in the absence of a warrant.

Frost then fled to Spain via France and was finally extradited from Alicante back to the UK last year after Dutch police uncovered incriminating web chats on the computer of a man in the Netherlands.

He got boys aged between 10 and 14 to give thumbs up signs and make love heart gestures with their hands while being filmed on a webcam engaging in sexual acts.

The NCA has appealed for any more victims to come forward who may have gone to schools in east London, Worcestershire and Hertfordshire where Frost taught.

Canadian officials had alerted the NCA’s child exploitation and online protection centre to Frost as part of its international child porn investigation in July 2012.

But it was not until November 2013 the information was sent on to Thames Valley Police which found he was abroad.

The NCA said it could not rule out the possibility that some of the nine Thai victims were abused in the six months between the time it was first alerted and Frost’s arrest in Asia.

The NCA and NSPCC have set up a helpline for more victims to come forward. The number is 0800 3280904.

Top pic: PA