A thousand deaths is too good for him
UK’s worst ever paedophile heckled in dock as he gets 22 life sentences
BRITAIN’S worst paedophile was given 22 life sentences yesterday as a friend of a victim yelled ‘a thousand deaths is too good for you’.
Richard Huckle was ordered to serve at least 25 years behind bars for 191 sexual offences against children as young as six months.
The judge said the 30-year-old posed an indefinite risk to children.
Masquerading as a devout Christian, Huckle targeted care homes and orphanages while teaching English and photography in Malaysia and Cambodia.
He bragged about the abuse in a twisted blog in which he awarded himself ‘PedoPoints’ for his sexual assaults. He even filmed himself raping children and babies. From the age of 19 he amassed a staggering 20,000 images of child abuse that he sold for profit.
Investigators believe he would have attacked hundreds more children had he not been caught in 2014 when Australian police uncovered a network of paedophiles on the ‘dark’ web.
He was arrested by the National Crime Agency after flying home to visit his family for Christmas.
Huckle maintained his innocence to police but later confessed to his parents. Horrified, they begged police to take him away.
In the worst case of its kind at the Old Bailey he admitted an unprecedented 71 charges over eight years, including rape, sexual assault and sexual activity with a child.
As he was taken from the dock an onlooker shouted from the public gallery: ‘A thousand deaths is too good for you. I know one of those families. They mean nothing to you.’ Judge Peter Rook QC said Huckle posed a substantial risk for an indefinite period: ‘This was a prolonged campaign of rape of the children from a small community.
‘ You targeted and groomed impoverished children and their families in a poor community, no doubt seeking to impress them with your relative wealth as a Westerner.
‘That community was particularly vulnerable because of its poverty. Your offending became entrenched in everyday life, your life revolved around abusing children.
‘Your distorted beliefs are deepseated, your self- delusion knows no bounds. You were and are sexually obsessed with children.
‘It is clear from your postings on hidden encrypted paedophile websites on the dark web, and from the manual you were in the process of drafting, that your life revolved around your obsession with your own sexual gratification by child sex abuse. It is also clear that, had you not been arrested, you planned to continue the same lifestyle.’
Huckle, who used churches he attended in Kent as a ‘stepping stone’ to gain access to victims abroad, sat with his hands clasped together as if in prayer as he was sentenced.
The judge said a 60-page child abuse manual he penned instruct- ing others on how to target victims was a ‘truly evil document’.
Huckle passed a short letter through the glass dock before sentencing, in which he claimed he was disgusted with his behaviour.
But the judge said he showed no remorse or understanding of the public abhorrence over his campaign of rape. He added: ‘In my view, you may well harbour feelings of regret but there is no feeling of genuine remorse in this case.’
Investigators have been unable to identify Huckle’s victims as he has refused to hand over encrypted passwords to hidden files on his computer.
He was prosecuted over the abuse of 23 children, but officers managed to uncover more than 20,000 indecent images and videos. Anthony Hill, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘It is hard to put into words the sheer depravity. For almost nine years, Richard Huckle subjected at least 23 children, some of them very young, to the most horrifying abuse imaginable.
‘He deliberately targeted and groomed vulnerable communities to gain their trust. He took photographs of the abuse to upload on the dark web to share worldwide.’
An NSPCC spokesman said: ‘Huckle is a frighteningly depraved paedophile who bragged about raping babies and delighted in abusing infants who trusted him.
‘He left a trail of devastation and his sentence reflects the severity of his crimes. It is horrifying that Huckle was able to profit from this appalling abuse.’
‘A truly evil document’