Man paid for 'horrific' child abuse material

A man who bought "truly appalling" images of children as young as five being sexually abused from a woman in the Philippines has been jailed.

Jamie Beckett, 37, paid for pictures, videos and live streams of the woman's children as well as several others being physically and sexually assaulted.

Beckett, a telecommunications engineer from Wakefield, pleaded guilty to 25 child sexual abuse offences at Leeds Crown Court in February.

Sentencing him to 16 years in prison, Judge Simon Batiste, said: "All the victims suffered considerably and it's clear you revelled in and enjoyed seeing their pain. The impact on the children will be horrific and lifelong."

The judge told Beckett he would have to serve an additional seven years on licence upon his release and would be on the sex offenders register for life.

He was also made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The court heard Beckett was arrested in December 2022 by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers following an investigation into a sex trafficking network in the island nation.

Online records revealed that between June 2020 and June 2022, he had exchanged 9,493 messages, 356 media files and about 39 calls with the woman in the Philippines, often providing specific instructions.

At one point he stated he wanted to travel to the Philippines to engage in the abuse himself.

In total, Beckett paid less than £560 for the abuse material, with payments ranging from £6.20 to £187

The court heard the children, who were aged between five and 15, had since been safeguarded.

Judge Batiste said the case had been "beyond words".

"When you've worked in the Crown Court for a period of 30 plus years, you become somewhat immune to the horrors, but occasionally a case comes before you that is so vile and so horrific that you cannot help but be horrified. This is such a case," he said.

"It was truly appalling sexual abuse."

Beckett kept his head bowed throughout most of the hearing.

His defence barrister told the judge he could not offer much in the way of mitigation but said his client had lost his marriage, home and family, and was "embarrassed and ashamed".

Danielle Pownall, NCA's senior investigating officer, described Beckett as a "depraved individual with a blatant disregard for children".

"Beckett completely dehumanised his victims, paying pitiful amounts of money in exchange for images and videos of extreme child abuse," said Pownall.

"The transactional relationship between Beckett and the facilitator exploited the victims' vulnerability and circumstances.

"With thanks to US law enforcement colleagues and the Philippine National Police, the NCA was able to identify Beckett and bring him to justice."

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