EXCLUSIVE by Andrew Drummond in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Justin Penrose
20/06/2010
They are known as the rubbish dump kids… starving children who scavenge for scraps of food on a toxic mountain of waste.
He is a former hairdresser who runs a “charity” in Cambodia inviting you to send him money to save them.
David Fletcher, 65, appears to be the Good Samaritan, feeding hundreds of children who affectionately know him as “Papa”.
But Fletcher hides a dark secret – he was jailed in Britain for the statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl and videoing the horrific crime.
He now uses the guise of his unregistered charity in Cambodia – where he fled to six years ago – to spend every day with little girls, some as young as eight. The pervert raises money from tourists who believe they are providing food and shelter for the hundreds of poor and hungry children.
But a Sunday Mirror investigation can reveal how Fletcher has become worryingly close to a number of young girls – and spoke to our investigators of an eight-year-old he calls his “favourite little girl”.
Fletcher has even bought himself a 17-year-old Cambodian bride for £150 who he met on the dump – sold by her own mother to pay off debts. Genuine charities are so concerned they attempted to outbid him to keep the girl out of his clutches.
The Sunday Mirror joined Fletcher for one of his tours to the rancid rubbish tip on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh.
We met him at the Flora Bar where he had his hand inside the bra of a young Cambodian hostess and was happy to tell us: “She’s shaven, you know. That’s how I like them. No pubic hair. I prefer Cambodian girls. I tried Thailand first… went there for years, but here it’s much better. They’re more needy. You just have to be a little careful. I know I am being watched.”
He added: “My two grown-up sons have disowned me. They did not like the fact that my girlfriends were younger than theirs. Who cares? It’s their loss.”
Fletcher was convicted at Norwich Crown Court in July 1997 of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl who he had plied with champagne and offered £250 for sex.
He also admitted possessing offensive weapons. He was jailed for 18 months. At the time he ran a series of hair-dressing salons in Cambridge and Saffron Walden. When he was released from jail, he fled Britain.
When asked about his conviction he was unapologetic, saying: “Oh yes. She was just my girlfriend. They caught me. I just did it ahead of her 16th birthday. People will stoop very low to say bad things about me.”
Fletcher runs the Rubbish Dump Project and has a website which tells the moving story of Phnom Penh’s garbage dump kids. He invites readers to send donations to his private bank account and claims every penny is spent on the children.
The Sunday Mirror signed up for a tour of the dump and handed over US$50, the amount Fletcher says will feed 150 children.
When we got to the garbage mountain at Stung Meanchey on the outskirts of the capital he took a cream bun and some fruit to “my favourite little girl”.
With his tuk-tuk driver he dished out fruit to more than 100 desperate children amid the stench. The slum families try to survive on what they can scavenge, so flock to him when he has food.
The pervert preys on their desperation, building up the children’s trust – including his 17-year-old bride-to-be Yang Dany, who he met at the tip.
We accompanied him to Yang Dany’s home with a special bag of goodies for her mum.
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