'I'm not a paedo' Scots charity worker jailed for child abuse vows to clear name after 15 years in 'hellhole'

A Christian charity worker has vowed to fight to clear his name after being deported from Albania for sex crimes against children.

David Brown was released last week and claims he was framed for the offences that led to 15 years in a hellhole jail.

The former Children’s Panel chairman has spoken of his hope that people in Scotland will accept him as a victim of a grave miscarriage of justice.

Brown, of Edinburgh, was jailed over abuse of boys at the His Children orphanage in the capital, Tirana, which police raided in 2006.

But four years ago abuse victims changed their stories and pleaded to give evidence on Brown’s behalf in an appeal.

After being released from prison, the 69-year-old was taken into a detention centre arrived back to Inverness via London yesterday.

Brown said: “I hope people in Scotland will accept that I was wrongfully convicted.

“I know that all my friends do. Having the record of a convicted paedophile is something that hangs over me but I am determined to clear my name.

“Right now, I have been declared a persona non-grata in Albania, which is why I’m being deported and this meant I had to sign a declaration to say I cannot enter the country again for 10 years. But my solicitor will appeal it and I am hopeful that I will get a hearing at the High Court.”

Brown went to Albania in 2000 to help young refugees from the war in neighbouring Kosovo.

He set up an orphanage for troubled children in 2001 but was arrested five years later and sentenced in 2008 to 20 years.

In 2017 it was revealed that the two boys whose evidence had convicted him had come forward to withdraw their accusations.

They stand by their claims that they were forced to testify against their former guardian by
corrupt police.

Andon Qoshlli, now 26, confirmed he wanted to go to court to retract the evidence he gave in court as a 13-year-old.

Denis Aliu, now 22, claimed he was a terrified six-year-old when he was bullied by police into saying he was also abused by Brown.

Brown met accuser Denis in prison after he was sent there for an offence.

He said: “Denis said to me, ‘I’m so ashamed – I put you, my dad, in prison.’ I told him never to believe that as I knew he was forced to speak against me.

“That broke my heart. It devastates me. They were supposed to protect my children but they damaged them by forcing them to speak against me.”

At the time, Albania’s ex-justice minister Spartak Npjela demanded a probe into the actions of the authorities who handled the case and said: “This is a scandal of Albanian justice and I believe corruption may be involved.”

Brown told how he feared he might die in the Albanian jail.

He added: “My father died in 2007, then my mother got Parkinson’s ­disease and was very sick. She was crying to see me one more time and she died in September 2012.”

The Scot, who also has a home in India, will stay with friends as he tries to get back on his feet in Inverness.

Despite facing the full force of Albanian police, which he claims was corrupt, Brown says he has no regrets about setting up home there.

He said: “I am absolutely disgusted with it. From the beginning, they gave false evidence. I love Albania but I am broken-hearted by this injustice.”

The Albanian authorities refused Brown an appeal in 2017 and he claimed the UK Government did nothing.

He said: “I felt let down. The UK embassy didn’t come to see me in six or seven years.

“We sent all the evidence so they could read it and all the time said we cannot interfere with the Albanian justice system.”

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