Description
A man who live streamed child sexual abuse from the Philippines and shared indecent images of children has been sentenced following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Darren Ashton, 52, from Somerset, regularly accessed websites that streamed the real-time abuse of children in the Philippines.
Calling himself 'Daz from England', Ashton discussed the sharing of images and videos of male children aged 13 and 14 and talked about his preference for 'cam shows' rather than recorded videos.
In another deleted conversation recovered from his mobile phone, Ashton is seen to be talking to a child based in Singapore aged around 11 years old. After receiving an image of the boy, Ashton encouraged him to send indecent pictures of himself to him.
NCA officers arrested Ashton at his home in Somerset after receiving intelligence from the Philippines National Police as part of their investigation into a Filipino national who had been arrested in country.
Indecent images – 185 in Category A, 244 in Category B and 266 in Category C – were discovered on his devices, alongside 10 extreme or prohibited images.
Ashton was interviewed and denied the offences. He was later charged and pleaded guilty to nine child sexual abuse offences on 13 February at Taunton Crown Court.
He was sentenced at the same court today (9 May) and was sentenced to four years in prison. He will also be on the Sex Offenders Register and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) indefinitely.