Updated

A provincial court in Cambodia has sentenced a 77-year-old British man to 18 months imprisonment for sexually abusing three boys.

Yin Srang, a spokesman for the court in the northeastern province of Siem Reap, said Roy Sheppard was sentenced Friday for indecent acts committed against three boys 12 to 16 years old.

Action Pour Les Enfants, a non-governmental group that fights the sexual abuse of children, said Sheppard was arrested in October after complaints were received from the boys' parents. It said it was unclear if he would serve his sentence, since he was at large after being released on bail for health reasons.

Poverty and poor law enforcement have made Cambodia a magnet for foreign pedophiles, but the government has cracked down on sex offenders in the past decade.