He asked mums for naked pics of their daughters
A PAEDOPHILE who targeted Filipino mothers in a bid to get hold of indecent images of their young daughters, has been sentenced.
Seeking images of girls aged between five and 12, ex-serviceman Andrew Leigh trawled dating sites to befriend women in the Philippines.
The 56-year-old, formerly of Lossiemouth Road, Hinckley, asked for naked photographs of young female relatives and sometimes material was provided for payment.
Gary Short, prosecuting, said: “During the course of the exchanges he requested they engage in sexual acts with adult males, but it’s not known if that happened.”
Leigh, who served in the Army for 10 years until he was 26, was jailed for four years and eight months and told he would have to serve at least two thirds of the sentence. The judge extended the licence period for an additional five years.
Leicester Crown Court was told the police arrested Leigh on March 13 last year and seized his iPad, phone and laptop.
Some evidence was then lost when officers inspected it, because the defendant remotely controlled the devices to delete material as soon as it was connected to the internet.
Gary Short, prosecuting, said some Skype chat data was saved, which showed that Leigh contacted women in the Philippines and established if they had daughters aged between five and 12.
Leigh’s WorldRemit account showed he made 36 transactions overseas totalling about £2,000, from December 2015 and July last year.
The defendant, a father-of-three, told one woman he “supported” a few girls from the Philippines for “modelling” and asked for naked images of a girl aged 10 or 11.
Another woman tried to dissuade him from this, suggesting older females, but he said he wanted eight to 12-yearolds and told her to “offer them sweets”, and he would pay the woman £25.
Leigh discussed payment with another Filipino woman online and a video call was then made where he watched “one if not two children naked in a live situation,” said Mr Short.
“In several situations, mothers showed him clothed photos of children, as young as five, and if he liked them he would request naked images and discuss payment.”
Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “An aggravating feature was you arranged for material to be deleted automatically when the devices were plugged in for inspection by the police.
“You represent a high risk of causing serious harm to children because of the predatory and manipulative aspects of your behaviour.”
Mara Silva-Romefort, mitigating, said: “He says he was lonely and didn’t know what he was doing at the time he went to ‘that place.’ It was a fantasy world.
“He knew it was wrong. He needs help and he asks for help
Leigh admitted two counts of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child under 13, by recording indecent images of children, aged between eight and 12 years, between February 2013 and March 2018.
He admitted a similar offence relating to no fewer than seven further occasions when he recorded indecent images of children under 13.
He also pleaded guilty to several counts of making indecent images of children, with one image in the most serious range, and distributing three images in the least serious range.