Man who paid £56k for child abuse images is jailed
Howlett's cache of abuse images was created from 2003 up until his 2021 arrest
- Published
A "dangerous paedophile" who sent almost £56,000 to the Philippines to pay for livestreamed sexual abuse of children has been jailed for 30 years.
Patrick Howlett, from Kent, was arrested in July 2021 after National Crime Agency (NCA) officers found a total of 14,311 illegal images, amassed over nearly two decades, on his electronic devices.
However, between 2014 and his arrest the 58-year-old had also made around 800 separate financial transactions to obtain extreme material, including paying one Filipino woman thousands to abuse her own young children.
The judge at Canterbury Crown Court described Howlett as showing "a breath-taking lack of regard for the sanctity of childhood".
Sentenced on Friday, he will also be subjected to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Investigators discovered Howlett would contact other offenders using online messaging platforms and share abuse images through Dropbox.
The NCA found 1,277 images were of a single victim who had been continually sexually abused for years at Howlett's instruction.
More than 5,000 of the total 14,311 images discovered on Howlett's devices were assessed by NCA investigators to have been created exclusively for him.
One time, while requesting abuse videos of a nine-year-old girl, he even bemoaned being unable to watch livestreamed footage due to the fact he was at work.
NCA investigators said Howlett's cache of images had been created from 2003 up until his 2021 arrest.
They have also been working closely with law enforcement in the Philippines who are carrying out their own investigation into those Howlett was in contact with.
Nineteen children identified as having been abused as a result of the offending have now been safeguarded.
Adam Priestley, unit head of CSA investigations at the NCA, said: "Patrick Howlett is a dangerous paedophile who has offended for many years.
"The NCA will continue to pursue those who pose a significant sexual risk to children and fuel their continued abuse."
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