Paedophile jailed for watching rape of 6-year-old boy live on the internet

Philip Crabtree performs a sex act on himself while watching the abuse

Stoke Crown Court (Google Street View )

A paedophile has been jailed for watching a six-year-old boy being raped live on the internet.

Philip Crabtree performed a sex act on himself on webcam while watching the abuse take place in America.

The 35-year-old was part of a group who shared images and videos of children being abused.

Members of the ring, which included people from Canada and the US, were identified by authorities.

Crabtree’s home in Stoke was raided by the police and 890 indecent images and videos of children were uncovered.

A total of 87 of these were considered to be in the most serious category.

He apparently used a legitimate conference platform to watch the abuse and changed his username on a regular basis to avoid detection.

“Sexual exploitation of children was routine. He was identified as being present on numerous occasions including when live abuse of a six-year-old child was screened from the US,” prosecutor Charlotte Newell told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

“He was seen to perform sex acts on himself while child exploitation material was screened.”

Crabtree pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting in the commission of one or more offences, three charges of making indecent photographs of children and eight offences of intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence.

He has been sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison with an extra one year on license.