International Pedophile Ring Busted: 700 Arrested, 31 Children Rescued
I don't think a sane person could imagine an appropriate punishment. Maybe they should be locked in cells with serial killers.
British police today announced they have broken-up an international paedophile ring with more than 700 members, after a sophisticated infiltration operation.
Ceop was set up last year to monitor and close down paedophile websites
The paedophiles exchanged obscene images and videos of children - some being horrifically sexually abused - on a website called "Kids the Light of Our Lives", police said.
Officers from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre infiltrated the ring after arresting the British man behind the site last year.
Using techniques more commonly used by anti-terror police, they amassed evidence on other members, with the help of agencies from across the world. The site was closed down after 10 days of surveillance.
Two-hundred of the suspects live in Britain, Ceop said. They are "currently subject to active police inquiries", so their details cannot be released.
Thirty-one children across the world - including a "significant minority" from Britain - have been rescued from abuse during the 10-month investigation.
Information on the operation was released today ahead of the sentencing of Timothy David Martyn Cox, the man police say hosted the website.
Cox, 27, of Buxhall, near Stowmarket, hid behind the online identity "Son Of God", and was arrested in September last year after Canadian police informed Ceop that the "Kids the Light of Our Lives" site was based in the UK.
Officers swooped at speed to prevent Cox alerting users of his website that he had been caught. After removing him from his house detectives posted a message under his name saying that he had gone for his tea and would be back in 30 minutes, in an attempt to avoid arousing suspicions.
He has admitted nine offences of possessing or distributing indecent images of children, and is due to be sentenced this afternoon at Ipswich Crown Court.
Another man who attempted to restart the website after Cox's arrest is also awaiting sentence after admitting 27 charges of making, possessing and distributing indecent images and movies.
Gordon Mackintosh, 33, from Hertfordshire, used the soubriquets "silentblackheart" and "lust4skoolgurls". When he was arrested in January police found 5,167 indecent and explicit images of children on his computer.
Speaking of Cox's conviction, Jim Gamble, chief executive of Ceop, said: "Today’s verdict serves as a powerful warning to those using the Internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children.
