British paedophile Richard Huckle has been given 22 life sentences - to serve a minimum term of 25 years - for abusing up to 200 Malaysian children.

The 30-year-old from Kent, had previously pleaded guilty to 71 sexual offences on young children, mainly in Malaysia but also in Cambodia from 2006 to 2014.

A total of 23 children were identified in 71 charges, although Huckle's tally of abuse on a so-called "Pedopoints ledger" was much higher.

Judge Peter Rook QC told Huckle his "self-delusion knows no bounds" and a paedophile manual he had written was a "truly evil document".

The judge also suggested the scale of Huckle's crimes could be far far worse due to him not revealing the password of a heavily encrypted file on his computer where further photos and indecent images are believed to be stored.

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

The freelance photographer had masqueraded as a devout Christian and English teacher to gain access to up to 200 children in Kuala Lumpur.

Huckle was a user of a now defunct paedophile site called The Love Zone which was being investigated by a joint police taskforce in Australia and Europe.

By using data gathered from the site and information he had posted on social media and other internet sites, they identified who Huckle was and where he lived.

He was arrested by National Crime Agency officials at Gatwick Airport in December 2014 after they were tipped off by the task force.

Huckle refused to give officers the passwords to his encrypted computer but they were still able to uncover more than 20,000 indecent images of children.

He had refused to answer officers' questions but the next day his mother asked him about the allegations and he admitted he had sex with children aged between three and 13.

After Huckle's admission to his mother that he had abused young children, his parents were so upset they contacted the police themselves.

During his trial, prosecutor Brian O'Neill QC said: "His mother was both extremely upset and extremely angry.

"She and his father called the police and asked them to take their son away.

"Both have made witness statements in support of this prosecution."