Businessman admits paying for online child abuse from Philippines

Peter Tomlinson pleaded guilty to 12 sexual offences involving children

A businessman and a former chamber of commerce president has admitted paying to watch child abuse online.

Police said Peter Tomlinson paid thousands of pounds to watch live streams from the Philippines in which he would demand what he wanted to see.

The youngest victim was 10 years old when the abuse began.

Tomlinson, 63, from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, pleaded guilty at Newport Crown Court to 12 sexual offences involving children.

Police found thousands of Skype video and text messages between Tomlinson and a female Filipino facilitator.

During the conversations, Tomlinson repeatedly asked for "harder" abuse footage, spelling out what he wanted to see and then complaining about what he received, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

'Heinous abuse'

The agency said Tomlinson told officers who arrested him at home in October: "The thing you're looking for is on my computer in there. It is my escape from reality. That is all it is."

Tomlinson, of Baring Road, admitted paying for broadcasts between May 2018 and February 2019.

The NCA also suspected he paid more than £5,500 for streamed abuse between May 2015 and April 2017.

He pleaded guilty to charges including inciting the sexual exploitation of girls under 13, paying for their sexual services and making indecent photographs of a child.

Tomlinson resigned from Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce in 2019

NCA operations manager Phil Eccles said Tomlinson believed he could carry out "sickening offences from the comfort of his own home".

Mr Eccles said: "He was directly responsible for the most heinous abuse of children thousands of miles away from him.

"Live-streaming sex crimes exploits the vulnerable. He was helped in this case by facilitators whose motive is to make money."

The agency said the facilitator had been arrested and the children safeguarded.

Tomlinson will be sentenced at the same court on 5 March.