To onlookers it’s just a normal family man enjoying an al fresco glass of wine with his wife.

But an incredible Sunday Post investigation has delved behind the mundane snap, to lay bare a terrifying world. It shows Dundee-born Douglas Barr, who emigrated to Crete nearly 10 years ago.

There he carried out horrifying sexual abuse resulting in a lengthy jail term.

Reporter Gordon Blackstock travelled to Crete to chart the monster’s descent into depravity.

The crime: Vile legacy of sexual abuse and torture

DOUGLAS BARR was jailed for nearly 20 years for a horrific catalogue of abuse carried out on Crete.

The married 56-year-old received the sentence, which could conceivably 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 last month heard how he abused the children, torturing them and keeping them prisoner in a basement, while being bankrolled by taxpayer-funded benefits.

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.

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 last night insisted that they had no concerns about Barr prior to him emigrating.

They also confirmed they had been “liaising closely with the Greek authorities over these very serious crimes”.

We contacted Barr’s younger brother, Jack, at his home in Leeds, to ask him about the crimes involving his brother.

Married Jack, 53, of 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. I don’t want to make any ­further comment.”

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 than comfortable life here while committing these crimes.”

Following his conviction, Barr was led away in handcuffs and taken to Greece’s most notorious jail.

 

The whistleblowers: When we first met Barr we thought he was a gentleman but he changed into a monster

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.

Hairdresser and neighbour Katerina Keramianaki, left, told The Sunday Post she was also approached by a separate victim. The female victim slipped Barr’s clutches to tell her she too had been raped.

Not knowing where to turn, Katerina alerted the British Embassy in Crete.

“I had to do what I could,” said Katerina, who gave evidence at the trial which gripped the holiday island.

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.”

Douglas Barr: From happy childhood in Dundee to life of excess and depravity in Crete – click here to read more

The lawyer

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.”

 

The best mate

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 always seemed to hold you at arm’s length. 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 taken in.

“Now I wonder if everything he said was a lie,” he said.

 

The prison

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.

Crippling austerity cuts in cash-strapped Greece have allegedly hit so hard many inmates are having to survive on tiny food rations.

 

The wife: Julie now thought to be living in Leeds

JULIE BARR left Crete shortly after her husband was arrested.

Last week we traced her to an address in Leeds but there was no answer when our reporters called.

Julie’s home is a sparsely-furnished mid-terrace, stone-built house in the Leeds
suburb of Morley.

The couple moved abroad from a large detached home worth nearly £300,000 in the village of Rothwell, about six miles out of Leeds city centre.

Seemingly happy to be starting a new life, they quit their luxurious home in 2006, telling neighbours they were off to Australia.

The home’s current owner, who bought the property from the Barrs, was shocked to hear of Douglas’s depravity.

Paula, a 49-year-old child minder, whose surname we have agreed not to publish, said: “Everybody around here spoke very highly of him.

“He told everyone he was going to Australia as he’d been sponsored to work out there. I’d no idea he’d gone to Crete.”

 

The authorities: Passed on to the Greek authorities with a request to investigate further

Officials at the local authority where Barr lived before he moved to Crete said there were no concerns about his behaviour.

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”.

Greek police were unable to speak to our reporter on Crete last week.

He was told it could take “months” to get a response to our questions, especially since last week was the run up to Easter in the Greek orthodox calendar.

Despite this, 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.”

Meanwhile officials at West Yorkshire Police said they were aware of the Barr case but were not in a position to comment.

The National Crime Agency, which is responsible for handling European Arrest Warrants, was also unable to shed any light on the matter.

Reporting team: Gordon Blackstock, Janet Boyle, Graham McKendry, Marc Meneaud, Craig Jackson