LONDON: A British serial paedophile who preyed on impoverished Kuala Lumpur slum children voiced deep remorse before a London court on Friday for his “disgusting behavior.”
Richard Huckle, 30, who has pleaded guilty to 71 of 91 counts of child sex offenses, including rape, targeted children while posing as a volunteer working with Christian communities in the Malaysian capital.
More than 20,000 images of child sex abuses were found on his heavily-encrypted laptop.
Huckle appeared in the dock at London’s Old Bailey criminal court where judge Peter Rook heard mitigation from his lawyer Philip Sapsford.
Rook said he would have to weigh up whether a life sentence was appropriate for 22 of the most serious counts before passing sentence at 10 a.m. on Monday.
Sapsford asked for leniency, arguing that in pleading guilty, his client had spared a jury from being exposed to images of his abuse.
He accepted it would be “a very long time” before Huckle was released from prison but asked that the sentence give his client “hope” of rehabilitation into society.
Huckle had bragged about his abuse online and was snared by an Australian investigation on the dark web, a hard-to-access part of the Internet often used for illegal activity.
In the letter of remorse written on May 23 and read to the court by his lawyer, Huckle acknowledged “the scale of the damage I have caused.”
“I completely misjudged the affections I received from these children.
“My low self-esteem and lack of confidence with women was no excuse to be using these children as an outlet.”
He said he was “gullible to be easily influenced” by the “pathetic, perverted lust of those who drew me into the dark net.”
And he said he hoped there would be help for the victims of the “disgusting behavior I performed on them.”
“I am open and eager to rehabilitate from this offending behavior,” he wrote.
“In no way do I want to be treated as a martyr to child sex tourism in Malaysia.
“This was all my own doing as a consequence of my own immaturities.
“I am deeply remorseful and regretful of what has happened and will do all I can in being proactive toward rehabilitating myself.”
The Old Bailey heard earlier that Huckle targeted poor victims and was writing a guide to child abuse that he intended to publish for profit.
British pedophile ‘regrets’ Malaysia abuses
British pedophile ‘regrets’ Malaysia abuses
EU sends emergency generators to Ukraine as France plans to coordinate aid
- The European Commission will send 447 emergency generators worth $4.3m to restore power
- “Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ... are designed to break Ukrainian spirit,” Lahbib said
PARIS: The European Union is deploying emergency generators to Ukraine, saying Russian bombings have left a million people without power and heating, while France plans to hold a call to rally international help for Ukrainians exposed to extreme cold.
Electrical engineers have been working around the clock in hazardous conditions for weeks since Russia escalated attacks on Ukraine’s grid during a cold snap that has reached temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 F).
The European Commission will send 447 emergency generators worth 3.7 million euros ($4.3 million) to restore power to hospitals, shelters and critical services affected by “relentless Russian strikes,” it said in a statement on Friday.
It added the generators will be mobilized from strategic reserves hosted in Poland and distributed in cooperation with the Ukrainian Red Cross to the most affected communities.
“Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ... are designed to break Ukrainian spirit,” European crisis chief Hadja Lahbib said in the statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared an energy emergency after the strikes over winter knocked out power generation and distribution facilities.
“We won’t let Russia freeze Ukraine. We bring light and warmth where Russia sends darkness,” Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova told a daily news briefing.
FRANCE TO HOLD CALL WITH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS
Earlier on Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told BFM television that France would
hold a call
with G7 countries as well as Nordic and Baltic states later in the day to coordinate support for Ukraine’s energy grid.
“He continues to shell Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. We will continue to support Ukraine,” Barrot said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said France would supply Ukraine with the equivalent of 13 extra megawatts of electricity and around 100 generators to replace destroyed infrastructure. Other countries would also pledge assistance during the virtual meeting, he said.
