British pedophile given 22 life sentences

A British man was on Monday given 22 life sentences after admitting to sexually abusing Malaysian children over nine years.

Richard Huckle, 30, from Kent, southeast England, admitted 71 charges of sex abuse against children aged between six months and 12 years in Malaysia, from 2006 to 2014.

The freelance photographer was given 22 life sentences at the Old Bailey in London on Monday, of which will serve at least 23 years.

According to local media reports, he masqueraded as a devout Christian, philanthropist, volunteer and English teacher to target poor Christian children in Kuala Lumpur. It is believed he abused around 200 children during his stay in the capital.

Huckle also shared tens of thousands of indecent pictures and videos of his assaults on children with pedophiles around the world through a website and tried to make a business out of his crimes by crowd-funding the release of the images and was compiling a pedophile's manual at the time of his arrest by the National Crime Agency.

"You have pleaded guilty to as many as 71 sexual offences. It is very rare indeed that a judge has to sentence sexual offending by one person on such a scale as this," Judge Peter Rook said as he sentenced Huckle, adding "there is no feeling of genuine remorse in this case." Endit