Blackburn child sex case man faces 'secret’ Albanian trial (From This Is Lancashire)

Blackburn child sex case man faces 'secret’ Albanian trial

9:22am Wednesday 21st May 2008 in

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A CHARITY worker has been told he faces a trial behind closed doors in Albania after being ex-tradited to face alle-gations that he sexually abused orphans.

Following a custody hearing Dino Christodoulou, 44, from Blackburn has been told by a judge he will be held in cells "indefinitely" until the court proceedings end.

Christodoulou faces 20 years in jail if convicted.

Reports in Albania have indicated a trial could take place in the "next few weeks".

During the hearing on Monday, crews from 15 Alb-anian television channels and 20 daily newspapers gathered outside.

Muhamed Veliu, of Top Channel Television, Albania, said: "This will be the trial of the year in Albania. There is an awful lot of interest.

"Paedophilia is an unknown crime in Albania and this is the first trial of three foreigners."

Mr Veliu said Christodoulou appeared calm and relaxed' in court and even smiled when he was photographed as he was led from the courtroom.

Friends in East Lancashire involved in a Dino is innocent' campaign have pledged to continue standing by the former social therapy nurse.

In March, City of West-minster magistrates ruled Christodoulou should be extradited to face the charges.

The Home Office said Albanian officials took him into custody on Friday and he arrived in the country's capital, Tirana, on Saturday. Christodoulou was arrested last October after an invest-igation launched in 2006 following allegations made by six orphans aged between six and 13.

He and Robin Arnold, 55, of Norfolk, were working as helpers at the His Children' refuge in Tirana, where it is alleged they molested orphans in 2004.

A third man, David Brown, 56, formerly of Edinburgh, who is said to have set up the home, is also being held in Albania awaiting the court case.

Christodoulou was heralded a charity champion after helping a number of causes in the 1990s. In 1996, he won a bravery award for disarming a gunman who shot a woman in the stomach.

Six years later he left for Albania, telling the Lanc-ashire Telegraph he was "on a mission to help the needy in Eastern Europe".

He quit his job at the former Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn and sold his possessions to help orphans and those living on the streets'.