A BRITISH man has been jailed for nearly 20 years for a horrific catalogue of abuse carried out on Crete - bankrolled by British benefits.
Married 56-year-old Douglas Barr received the sentence, which could see him die behind bars, for sexual and violent crimes he committed against children while living in luxury on the Greek holiday island.
His trial heard how he abused the children, torturing them and keeping them prisoner in a basement.
Questions are now being asked about whether the authorities in Britain were aware of Barr’s predilection for children before he moved to the tourist resort Tavronitis in 2007.
The court was told that cruel Barr shaved his victims’ hair and eyebrows and locked them in a dark basement at his home.
It is understood the abuse against the children stretched back a number of years.
Specific sexual abuse allegations were made concerning two girls. They both told a high-profile Greek trial that Barr raped them.
Dundee-born Barr was arrested in January last year following a dispute over a car crash he was involved in with a neighbour.
While awaiting trial behind bars over the incident, two of Barr’s victims approached Greek locals with allegations about sexual abuse they claimed they had suffered at his hands.
They, in turn, alerted the Greek and British authorities and a massive international investigation was launched.
It involved, among others, council officials in Leeds, where the Barrs had previously lived.
Officials at Leeds City Council insisted that they had no concerns about Barr prior to him emigrating.
Barr’s younger brother, Jack, 53 from Leeds, said: “I have not been out there for a long time, so I’ve nothing to say about it.
“As I’m sure you can understand, it is not the best time for me and my family."
In court it was revealed UK state hand-outs had bankrolled Barr’s life on Crete.
Reports suggested he had been receiving up to £4,500 a month courtesy of British taxpayers.
One local who counted him as a friend, said: “It makes me very angry as a Brit to think he was mooching off taxpayers, living a more thacomfortable life here while committing these crimes.”
Following his conviction, Barr was led away in handcuffs and taken to Greece’s most notorious jail.
Barr’s trial heard crucial evidence from two neighbours who were separately approached by victims who confessed to them they had been sexually abused in the attacker’s lair.
Florist Danai Dagunakis, 28, was confronted by Barr after he drove drunk into her parked car.
When she complained about the crash, Barr returned to the scene brandishing a gun, threatening Danai and her friends.
She “called the police over the car crash”, but the episode was witnessed by one of Barr’s victims.
Having seen Danai stand up to the bully, the victim approached the florist at the shop she runs with her family.
The victim then made harrowing claims about horrific sexual abuse she suffered at his hands.
“It was all very nasty stuff,” Danai’s uncle Vasilis added.
Danai and her husband, who chose not to be named, said: “When we first met Barr we thought he was a real gentleman but he slowly changed into a monster.”
Speaking in court, lawyer Notis Fyllakis described Barr as the definition of barbarity.
He said: “The behaviour of the perpetrator shows him not just to be ethically spineless but to be the literal definition of barbarity.
“The psychological and physical violence against these children paints a picture of a villain which not even Charles Dickens could have imagined.
“I do not believe that this terrible series of events will be resolved easily.
“It is being investigated by many different levels already.”
Once he was living in Crete Barr quickly made friends in the tight-knit expat community.
Key among them was retired builder and father-of-two Martin Wilson, 56, from London.
He previously thought of Barr as his best friend but said “Dougie was a funny one”.
“He would be your best friend for a year then you wouldn’t hear from him for a bit,” he added.
He was always up for fun and didn’t work. A rugby pension and successful pub business in Leeds meant he didn’t need to, so he said. But it was all lies.”
Martin was so close to Barr that – following his arrest – he offered to pay for a lawyer.
He also contacted Leeds Rhinos to tell the club a former player had been arrested in the belief they could intervene and help.
But when the club told him a Douglas Barr had never played for them Martin realised he had been duped.
Barr will serve his sentence in Grevena jail in northern Greece, among fellow sex offenders, people traffickers and drug dealers.
The tough prison has become infamous in recent years for chronic overcrowding, food shortages and brutal prisoner beatings.
Julie Barr left Crete shortly after her husband's arrest.
A spokeswoman for Leeds City Council said its staff had been liaising closely with the Greek authorities “over these very serious crimes”.
She added that an “anonymous letter” was received in August 2014 tipping them off to the abuse.
She said “this was passed on to the Greek authorities with a request to investigate the concerns raised”.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been kept permanently up to speed with developments by the Greek powers-that-be.
A spokesman for the FCO said: “We have remained in contact with Greek authorities since the detention of a British national in January 2015, and continue to provide consular assistance.”
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