One of Britain's worst paedophiles, who abused as many as 200 children in Malaysia, faces spending the rest of his life behind bars.

The youngest of Richard Huckle's victims was just six months old, while the oldest was only 12.

He has admitted an unprecedented number of offences against 23 children from mainly poor Christian communities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The children were identified in 91 charges but it is believed Huckle abused up to 200 young victims.

Huckle, who describes himself as a practising Christian, took in the families of his victims by posing as an English teacher doing good works abroad.

The freelance photographer first visited Malaysia on a teaching gap year when he was 18 or 19 and went on to groom children while doing voluntary work between 2006 and 2014.

Arriving home for Christmas in December 2014, Huckle was arrested at Gatwick Airport by National Crime Agency (NCA) officials.

They uncovered more than 20,000 indecent images on his computer, including numerous indecent pictures and videos Huckle took of himself abusing children.

Also on Huckle's laptop was a paedophile manual - Paedophiles And Poverty: Child Lover Guide - he had written, which was ready for publication on the dark web.

Investigators also found his "Pedopoints ledger", in which he detailed rapes and various sex acts of the children he abused.

Under the rules of his game, he could not score points for the same indecent activity for the same child in the same week.

Huckle had written about these "pedopoints" on The Love Zone (TLZ), a members-only paedophile site. The site has since been closed down.

He was also accused of attempting to crowdfund his online abuse using Bitcoin on a website called PedoFunding.

He allegedly forced a three-year-old girl to lie naked with him on a bed holding a handwritten advert, the court heard.

In January, Huckle pleaded not guilty to all 91 charges but ahead of his trial in April, he gradually admitted 71 of the offences over the course of five more hearings.

At his first plea hearing at the Old Bailey, it took more than an hour to read out all the charges.

Huckle pleaded guilty to carry discretionary life sentences on 21 of the offences, 18 of which are multiple incident counts.

Of the charges, 14 were for rape; five digital penetration, 31 sexual assaults; six grooming offences so children were exposing or touching themselves or other children sexually; 12 for taking very many photographs; one for making photographs; one of advertising indecent photograph, and one of arranging or facilitating child sex offences relating to the manual.

Details of the abuse can only be reported today because investigators had sought a court order allowing time to make sure the victims were safe from other sexual predators stalking the web.

Sentencing began on Wednesday and is expected to conclude on Friday.