The Australian foreign ministry has admitted that it made an 'error of judgement' when it issued a passport to a convicted child rapist in Cambodia.

Clint Rex Betteridge was given a second passport by the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh, despite being charged with the rape and indecent assault of underage girls.

He used his new passport to flee the country, and has since been sentenced to 10 years in jail in absentia.

Correspondents say the mistake is hugely embarrassing to the Australians, and could undermine their credibility in the fight against the child sex industry in south-east Asia.

It was an error of judgement...There should have been more accurate consultation and it should have been referred to the minister's office Australian foreign ministry spokesman

Mr Betteridge was arrested in Siem Reap, where he was working as an English teacher, in August 2002.

He was accused of hiring young girls, aged between 12 and 14, as maids and then raping and sexually abusing them.

Whilst on bail the Cambodian authorities confiscated his passport, but embassy officials said they issued him with a new one because they mistakenly believed he was entitled to a replacement.

Mr Betteridge used the passport to abscond from Cambodia two days before he was due to appear in court.

He is currently believed to be hiding in Australia.

Mistake

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs admitted embassy officials had made a mistake.

"It was an error of judgement...There should have been more accurate consultation and it should have been referred to the minister's office," he told the French news agency AFP.

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest countries

The Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, has now cancelled the passport and is said to be looking at ways of dealing with Mr Betteridge when he is tracked down.

Under Australian law, citizens can be imprisoned for up to 17 years for offences against children committed overseas.

Cambodia has acquired the reputation as a haven for paedophiles, where grinding poverty and an erratic judicial system have enabled the child sex industry to flourish.

However, since a campaign launched by the Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2002, there have been signs that the government is taking the issue more seriously.