Christopher Stubbings, Paedophile network chief, is jailed
A paedophile who amassed more than 200,000 computer images and thousands of videos of children being sexually abused was sent to jail indefinitely yesterday.
Christopher Stubbings, 55, was told he must serve at least 12 years and six months. While being interviewed by Staffordshire police, Stubbings told them: "You know what men are like. Some choose to collect stamps. I choose to collect images of children."
Stubbings was arrested after a two-year investigation involving the FBI and detectives in Australia. He admitted eight offences, including indecent assaults on a child under 16 and commissioning child abuse videos. He was also found guilty of possessing and distributing images of child abuse.
Mrs Justice Macur, passing sentence at Stafford Crown Court, said that Stubbings had "an inability to show remorse, contrition or empathy". She added: "[The images] were deplorable and depraved ? these children were abused, all of them debased, all of them humiliated."
The court heard that Stubbings, of Kings Bromley, Staffordshire, was the co-founder and treasurer of a global paedophile network with 60 members.
Independent
A founding member of a worldwide paedophile network has been jailed indefinitely after a two-year probe.
Christopher Stubbings was the treasurer of a global paedophile group, described by prosecutors as "second in command" in the online organisation.
The 55-year-old, of Kings Bromley, Staffordshire, was arrested in February after a joint operation by the FBI in the US and Queensland police in Australia.
At Stafford Crown Court, Stubbings admitted eight offences, including indecent assaults on a child under 16, commissioning child abuse videos, distributing child abuse images and possessing child abuse images.
The Honourable Mrs Justice Macur ordered that he should serve an indeterminate jail term for public protection, with a minimum tariff of 12-and-a-half years.
Stubbings, who co-founded the network, had a vast collection of "utterly deplorable" child abuse images, prosecutors said.
His computer hard drive was found to contain more than 200,000 images and 6,500 video files ranging from levels one to five - the most serious category.
Stubbings was a founding and core member within the network and acted as treasurer, collecting funding through secure internet bank accounts to pay for the production of new child abuse material.
Last February, details of network members were passed by the FBI to police forces across the world for further investigation after which officers in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the USA arrested 22 members of the gang - including Stubbings.
Guardian