British paedophile who campaigned to legalise sex with children sued by alleged Filipino victims in landmark case

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A British paedophile is being sued for damages by five young men who allege they were sexually abused by him when he lived in the Philippines.

Douglas Slade’s accusers will give evidence to the High Court in London by video link during a case thought to be the first of its kind.

Slade, a founding member of a group which campaigned to legalise sex with children, was jailed for 24 years in 2016 for abusing five boys in the UK between 1965 and 1980.

He had been extradited the previous year from the Phillipines, where he moved in 1985.

During three decades living in the country, he is alleged to have repeatedly enticed young people into his home and sexually abused them.

The 77-year-old denies the allegations.

Slade’s civil trial, which will begin on Tuesday, is believed to be the first time alleged victims from overseas have brought legal action against a British national in UK courts over abuse said to have been committed abroad.

Four young men and one boy at the centre of the case are suing Slade for "personal injuries arising out of sexual abuse". The youngest was 10 at the time the abuse allegedly began.

One accuser told the BBC: "Many people avoid me and think that I have a disease because of what I did. I'm teased. I am too embarrassed to get out of the house."

Slade, formerly of Bristol, was investigated by Filipino police but never faced charges.

He was expelled from the country in 2015, and charged with 13 counts of child abuse and rape upon his return to the UK.

After he was jailed, Avon and Somerset Police said Slade had shown "absolutely no remorse for his sickening crimes or for the lasting emotional and psychological damage he's caused his victims".

"If he hadn't been arrested, charged and now convicted, I've no doubt he'd have continued to offend," added detective sergeant Paul Melton.

In the 1970s, Slade helped to establish Paedophile Action for Liberation, which later became the Paedophile Information Exchange.

The campaign groups called for the age of consent to be lowered to make sex with children legal.