text: Albania charges Briton with child sex abuse . TIRANA 1996-08-27 Albanian authorities have arrested and charged a British man for sexually abusing two young boys , a Tirana prosecutor said on Tuesday . " We have arrested him and charged him with these shameful acts of sex abuse of little children , " prosecutor Adnan Xhelili told Reuters . Xhelili said Paul Thompson , 34 , from Wiltshire , was arrested on Sunday in a hotel in the Adriatic resort of Durres , 45 km ( 30 miles ) west of Tirana . Thompson has denied the charges . He could face up to five years in jail if convicted . Xhelili said Thompson , who is divorced , said he befriended the boys , both aged under 10 , because they reminded him of his own children who live with his former wife in London . The prosecutor 's office said no date had yet been set for a trial to begin as investigations had first to be completed . The British embassy in Tirana said it had sent an embassy official to talk to Thompson who is being held in jail . The age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual sex in Albania is 14 . A large number of destitute children can be seen begging in the streets of impoverished Albania , especially in towns and resorts visited by foreigners .