All to often we hear about horrific abuse against children by paedophiles, it's sickens me to the stomach but worse still are the lenient sentences being given out to these monsters in the UK!! One such case is that of Richard Huckle, who was given 22 life sentences for the abuse of Malaysian children YET he will only have to serve a MINIMUM of 25 years!! In my opinion that is not even close to the life sentence his victims will suffer!!
This monster targeted, groomed and abused up to 200 Malaysian babies and children and shared the images of his horrific crimes on the dark web. He admitted 71 offences, including rapes against young children between the ages of 6 months and 12 years, of those children, 23 of them were abused for years!! One of those kids were abused from the age of 3 until 10.
The number of victims is believed to be much higher, police found a ledger and scorecard on his computer in which he awarded himself marks for different kinds of abuse of 191 boys and girls!! This monster boasted that it was easier to abuse children from poorer communities than middle class western children, he shared videos and images of him raping very young children with paedophiles from around the world. He even tried to profit from his crimes by drafting a "Truly Evil" manual for other paedophiles that promoted child sex abuse tourism!! HE SHOULD NEVER be allowed out of prison and certainly NOT in the lifetime of those children he abused!!
Below is the statement from the NSPCC:-
The NSPCC said Huckle was a “frighteningly depraved paedophile” who had “bragged about raping babies and delighted in abusing infants who trusted him” and who had left a trail of devastation.
In a statement, the NSPCC added: “It is horrifying that Huckle was able to profit from this appalling abuse by using the web to sell images and even films to other paedophiles; emphasising the importance, yet again, of the need for a cohesive, global effort from both the authorities and internet services providers to combat this vile trade.”
I've always admired the sentences dished out by judges in America, many people in the UK are confused at how a judge can hand out a 200 year sentence, nobody lives for that long so what's the point - I get it, those kind of sentences ensure that the defendant dies in prison. Here in the UK a murderer can be out in 12 years and in some cases sooner, this is why the UK should adopt the American justice system, especially in the case of paedophiles!!
I followed the case of Larry Nassar, the once, world renowned, disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michagan State doctor, who was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in prison after more than 150 women and girls said in court, that he had sexually abused them over the past 20 years. The judge stated "I've just signed your death warrant" and that's exactly what it should be!! He will never get out, in 40 years he will be 94 if he is still alive, I believe that the judge was mindful of this when she passed sentence.
Larry Nassar stood up in court and apologised to his victims, those apologies looked empty to me, a way of getting a lighter sentence maybe. I also watched the father of either 2 or 3 of his victims attack Larry Nassar. I felt for him and watched him while his daughter read out her victim impact statement, who can blame him for trying to attack Nassar, that poor man must be punishing himself daily for not protecting his kids, I'm so glad he wasn't charged with a crime!!
Ultimately, it's the victims that suffer a life sentence and not these monsters, a lot of these children never recover from the abuse they suffer, physically or mentally. Paedophiles come from all walks of like, look like me and you, many hold positions of trust yet still, they are walking amongst us. Heavier sentences are needed in the UK, in the case of Richard Huckle, if he only serves the minimum of 25 years, he will be out of prison by the time he is 55 years old. That's still young enough to enjoy his life and most probably re-offend.
Sources:-
Image 1 - https://pixabay.com/en/england-flag-red-blue-white-2906827/
Image 2 -
Image 3 - https://pixabay.com/en/prison-jail-detention-fence-wire-370112/
Image 4 - https://pixabay.com/en/teddy-bear-lost-childhood-lonely-2711675/
Richard Huckle Story - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/06/richard-huckle-given-23-life-sentences-for-abusing-malaysian-children
Larry Nassar Story - https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/24/us/larry-nassar-sentencing/index.html