LONDON, June 6 (UPI) -- A British man received 22 life sentences Monday after admitting 71 sex crimes against young children in Malaysia.
Richard Huckle, a 30-year-old freelance photographer, will serve a minimum of 23 years in prison.
Police believe he abused up to 200 children from 6 months to 12 years old between 2006 and 2014 in Malaysia.
More than 20,000 indecent pictures and videos of his assaults on children also were discovered by investigators. He displayed them on a website for pedophiles and attempted to earn money with videos of him abusing a 3-year-old girl.
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Judge Peter Rook described the 60-page manual Huckle wrote as a "truly evil document."
In sentencing, the judge told Huckle his life "revolved around your obsession with your own sexual gratification by child sex abuse."
He added, "It is also clear that, had you not been arrested, you planned to continue the same lifestyle using the expertise that you were keen to show off to and share with other abusers so as to continue your sexual exploitation of the children of such communities."
In poor neighborhoods in Malaysia, he said he was practicing Christianity and groomed children with his voluntary work.
In a letter to the court, he said he had "low self esteem and lack of confidence with women." But Huckle noted that was "no excuse."
He wrote: "I am regretful, remorseful and eager to be rehabilitated from this offending behavior."
The National Crime Agency arrested him in 2014 when he arrived at Gatwick Airport in England to spend Christmas with his family.
