A former British Army officer was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for paying to watch live-streams of Filipino children being sexually abused.
Between January 2015 and July 2017, Andrew Whiddett, 70, paid a woman in the Philippines a total of £8,584 (US$11,000) to live-stream the abuse. Whiddett also communicated with the woman on his plan to carry out the abuse during a planned trip to the Philippines in 2016, GMA News reported.
Whiddett was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London on October 2017. During interrogation, Whiddett admitted to sending a total of 158 payments to the Philippines, but claimed the money was for live adult sex shows.
Whiddett pleaded guilty to six charges at the Croydon Crown Court in April this year. His arrest also led to the arrest of a Filipino mother in Butuan in the Philippines, who allegedly exploited her children for online sexual abuse.
On Wednesday, Whiddett was sentenced to three years and two months in prison for one count of intent to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, one count of causing or inciting a child under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity, one count of arranging or facilitating a sexual offence against a child and three counts of possessing indecent images of children.