Paedophile jailed for biggest haul of child pornography

A jobless paedophile who downloaded and distributed what is thought to be the largest ever haul of child pornography involving babies being tortured was jailed for four-and-a-half years yesterday.

James Howell, 34, downloaded more than 27,000 illegal images and videos, including some 6,500 showing babies and children under two suffering serious sexual abuse at the hands of adults.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said the images showed what many people would describe as "children being tortured by the crimes that are being committed against them".

Mr Howell was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life when he was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in central London.

The Honorary Recorder of Westminster told Mr Howell that prosecutors described the haul as "a massive selection of child abuse images" which was "utterly shocking and depraved".

"No-one could argue with that," the judge said.

"They describe children being tied down. They describe children in a state of terror. They describe children, many people would say, being tortured by the crimes that are being committed against them.

"This is therefore a very exceptional, and a very terrible, case of its kind.

"Even a very few of these details would strike the ordinary person with horror, but taken as a whole they create a truly disturbing picture."