Pedophile To Face Life In Prison

Richard Huckle, one of Britain’s most notorious pedophiles, has been sentenced to life behind bars. The 30-year-old raped and abused an estimated 200 children from poor communities in Southeast Asia between 2006 and 2014. More detestable is the fact that he even bragged about his exploits online, publishing a whole guide for others like him on how to carry out similar acts undetected.

30 year old Richard Huckle from #Ashford facing multiple life sentences after abusing up to 200 children in Malaysia pic.twitter.com/YKgL61k2Qv

— BBC South East (@bbcsoutheast) June 1, 2016

Richard Huckle, originally from Ashford, Kent, has admitted his involvement in multiple sex offences on minors. His court hearing started on Wednesday at the Old Bailey and is expected to conclude on Friday, BBC reports. He faces 91 charges of sex offense on 23 different children, of which he has already admitted to 71. The children he abused were mainly from poor Christian communities in and around Malaysia’s capital Kaula Lampur, and his victims’ ages ranged from between six months to 12 years.

It reportedly took over an hour just to read the list of charges on Huckle and according to one of the charges, Huckle had reportedly posted the following about one of his victims.

“I’d hit the jackpot, a 3yo girl as loyal to me as my dog and nobody seemed to care.”

It is said that Huckle could face up to 22 life sentences.

Although Huckle was arrested in 2014, the hearing has only started now after Judge Peter Rook QC has lifted a reporting restriction that the Investigators had previously sought in order to ensure that the victims would be safe from other lurking online sexual predators.

Richard Huckle first visited Malaysia when he was 19. He went there as a freelance photographer and a teaching volunteer during his gap year in 2005. After that, he went to Cambodia in 2006. In both countries, he presented himself as a Christian philanthropist, teaching English and Bible studies to children in poor communities. At one point, he had even featured in a video made by the British Council in Malaysia.

After his arrest in 2014, investigators found an estimated 20,000 pictures and videos of Huckle abusing young girls and boys during his visits to the south-east in his personal computer. He had reportedly sold many of these pictures and videos in the dark web – the encrypted and hidden portion of the internet.

Huckle regularly posted on pedophile forums in the dark web, making shocking statements such as the following.

“Impoverished kids are definitely much, much easier to seduce than middle-class western kids; I still plan to publish a guide on this subject.”

Through the years, Huckle had put together a 60-page pedophilia manual called “Paedophiles And Poverty: Child Lover Guide” that had clear instructions for others like him on how to select deprived victims in impoverished communities and avoid getting caught. The encrypted manual was found in his laptop, and Huckle had planned to publish it online. Another item found in his laptop was a ledger game Huckle had created, where he awarded himself different points for 15 different levels of abuse on children, ranging from “basic” to “hardcore.” He also had plans to create a “Paedo Wiki guide,” the court heard.

The court also heard that Huckle used a pedophile crowd funding website called PedoFunding to finance his exploits where he posted footage of a 3-year-old girl and managed to collect 105 percent of the target funding.

Despite being involved in the act since 2006, Huckle only came to the attention of British authorities in 2014 when the National Crime Agency (NCA) was tipped off about Huckle being part of an international police operation. The NCA began collaborating with their counterparts in Malaysia but were powerless to act due to jurisdictional issues while the culprit remained overseas. However, when they found out that he was returning home for Christmas, his arrest was planned and successfully executed. Upon his arrest at Gatwick Airport in 2014, Richard Huckle had initially pleaded not guilty to all 91 charges against him. He has since admitted to 71.

[Photo by Photographee.eu/Shutterstock]