A man who paid a woman in the Philippines to send him indecent images of her nine-year-old daughter has been jailed.
Richard Green, 49, was arrested following an investigation by authorities in the United States into a sex trafficking network in the island nation.
Sheffield Crown Court heard he first contacted the woman in 2019 before making repeated requests for further images and live streams.
Green, from Wath upon Dearne, was jailed for four years and six months after pleading guilty to arranging the sexual exploitation of a child and three counts of making indecent images of children. He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
The court heard Green, who had been living in Thailand during some of the offending, sent 350 messages and made 10 phone calls to the woman about the images and their content and expressed a desire to visit the Philippines.
When he was arrested in February 2024, nine multimedia files linked to their exchange were found on his devices, which included two Category C images of children.
In total of 28 indecent images were found on Green's devices – seven in Category A, seven in Category B, eight in Category C, and 13 classed as extreme.
A further account was found that had been used to send money to the woman in the Philippines, who had requested payment in the form of mobile phone top-ups.
As a result of the investigation which led to his arrest, seven children were rescued from sexual exploitation in the Philippines and the Filipino woman is now serving a lengthy prison sentence.
The court heard that, prior to his sentencing, Green had attempted to take his own life in November.
'Depraved'
Ian West, mitigating, told the court his client, who had no previous convictions, claimed he had "no recollection of what took place".
Mr West said Green was in ill health and had suffered serious injuries in an industrial accident last year, when he fell through a ceiling onto the floor below.
He said Green's wife had decided to return to Thailand "when it became apparent that she would have to be a carer".
Since his parents died last year, he said Green had been "effectively homeless" and was in receipt of state benefits due to his injuries.
Passing sentence, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told Green: "Those who seek sexual gratification by the exploitation of children must be punished severely and appropriately.
"I wish to congratulate both the United States authorities and the National Crime Agency (NCA) in this country for the level of cooperation in bringing you to justice."
Holly Triggs, the NCA's operations manager, said Green had been targeting children in the Philippines "over a number of years" and organised "depraved" abuse.
"Green posed a significant risk to children," she said.
"While he may have believed the distance between him and the abuse he orchestrated meant he would avoid detection, his crimes were uncovered with the assistance of policing partners in the US."
