PETALING JAYA, June 12 — British paedophile Richard Huckle has been tried and sentenced in the UK and as such, there was no reason to extradite him to Malaysia, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

Huckle was handed 22 life sentences by a London court last Monday after confessing to abusing 23 Malaysian and Cambodian children, aged six months to 12 years, between 2006 and 2014.

“What for? He is going to jail for a very long time in the UK,” Nur Jazlan said, responding to plans by police to extradite Huckle to Malaysia.

“They (the British) are the ones who caught him and the court (has) sentenced him for crimes he committed here.”

Nur Jazlan said if Malaysian authorities had arrested Huckle, then he would have been tried here.

“There is no point in trying to get him here. We dropped the ball by not noticing his activities, which were not reported to the police.”

He said it was best for police to interview Huckle in the UK instead.

“That would be more realistic. If (our) police need more information, they can interview him there.”

He added the focus now should be on preventing a similar episode by strengthening existing laws. He said a new anti-paedophile legislation was needed to overcome the shortcomings in the country’s legal system.

“The laws must not be overly dependent on testimonies by witnesses. They may be reluctant to expose themselves.

“The Act must also have provisions for Malaysian citizens involved in paedophilic activities abroad.”

Nur Jazlan said the legislation would be modelled after the UK’s Sexual Predators Act and would have a broad scope to deal with sexual crimes against men, women and children.

“The bigger issue is about handling sexual predators who use the Internet to prey on their victims ... whether men, women or children.”

Nur Jazlan met British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell and officers from UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on Friday. Follwing the meeting, he said the ministry would corporate and share information with NCA to enhance the ministry’s abilities.

“This will include police training on how to handle such cases (involving paedophiles), digital forensics and gathering information from witnesses who may not cooperate.”

He also took a swipe at the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), who assumed the role of guardians for the victims, saying they were partly to be blamed for allowing Huckle’s activities to go unnoticed.

“The NGOs did not spot it (red flags) due to low awareness over such matters and the shame and stigma attached to the victims of such crimes.

“They are partly responsible as they are not trained to spot and handle predators nor victims.”

He added the ministry would develop training programmes for NGOs on ways to identify and report sexual exploitation of minors.

“If there was adequate public awareness, acts carried out by Huckle would have been quickly spotted. We also need to update our laws to deal with transborder criminals and modernise our law enforcement techniques.”