Sex offender asked abusers to make children cry

A man who encouraged child sexual abuse facilitators in the Philippines to make their victims cry has been jailed.

Christopher Sanders, 50, from Hinckley, used Skype to contact five facilitators who had been previously arrested, or were suspected of inciting the abuse of children, between August 2017 and February 2019.

He was arrested in April 2024 after officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) linked his Skype username to 22 PayPal accounts.

On Tuesday, Sanders was jailed for 32 months at Leicester Crown Court having pleaded guilty to five counts of arranging the commission of a child sex offence committed by a child and two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

The NCA said they first became aware of Sanders' offending after receiving intelligence from international partners in July 2023 about a "UK individual who was a prolific purchaser of live-streaming content".

The crime agency said that, while talking to the facilitators in Southeast Asia, the criminal would repeatedly ask if the subject was "young".

After identifying them as facilitators, he would ask about their access to children, saying he could pay in the form of "tips" via legitimate adult streaming websites.

When requesting abuse material, the NCA said, Sanders would repeatedly ask for victims to be physically abused, in multiple cases asking for them to be made to cry.

If content was not provided quickly enough or to his liking, Sanders would send verbal abuse to the facilitators.

After Sanders was arrested in 2024, officers searched his home and seized a number of electronic devices, some of which contained 20 Category A and Category C indecent images of children, as well as extreme pornography and evidence of his chat activity.

Senior investigating officer Maria Powell said: "Sanders delighted in the horrific abuse of children that his sadistic tastes incited.

"His truly warped mentality was revealed in the violent requests he made and which would have continued had he not been arrested."

Listen to BBC Radio Leicester on Sounds and follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.