One of Britain's worst paedophiles, who abused babies and raped children as young as three, has been jailed for life.

Richard Huckle, 30, from Ashford, awarded himself points for how vile the offences were and even wrote an instruction manual 'Paedos in Poverty: A Child Lovers Guide' on how to groom children and how to distribute videos secretly on the dark web.

He boasted online that it was easier to abuse poor Asian children rather than wealthier Western kids.

Scroll down for video

Huckle pleaded guilty, to 71 offences involving 23 children aged from three months to 12 years old in Malaysia and Cambodia.

Today, at the Old Bailey, he was handed 23 life sentences - to run concurrently - and must serve a minimum term of 25 years.

His crimes included filming child rape and sexual assault which he posted for sale on the dark web via website called True Love Zone (TMZ) and for which he was paid in Bitcoins.

Some of his victims were living in children's home while they were being abused, and Huckle would gain the trust of a community by providing English language tuition.

VIDEO: Footage of lead investigating officer, James Traynor discussing Huckle's offending and the NCA's investigations

He first visited Malaysia in 2005 on a gap-year teaching placement, before returning in 2007 to a small village where he took up a voluntary teaching post in a small village where he abused two sisters for seven years.

Huckle has also pleaded guilty to advertising for sale indecent images of children and abuse for online Bitcoins on the dark web on site Paedo Funding, though it is not known how much he has made from his abuse.

"He presented himself as a legitimate student, photographer, English teacher and philanthropist but his MO was that he was abusing the children he purported to care about" - Tony Cook, NCA

He also produced a 60 page guide for other paedophiles called 'Paedos in Poverty: A Child Lovers Guide', giving tips how to abuse, which was ready for publication at the time of his arrest in December 2014.

The investigation which brought Huckle to justice was led by the National Crime Agency's (NCA) and Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP).

Tony Cook, NCA CEOP Head of Operations, described Huckle as a "lone offender", and said since 2005 he has travelled to regularly to South East Asia, particularly Malaysia.

"He presented himself as a legitimate student, photographer, English teacher and philanthropist but his MO was that he was abusing the children he purported to care about.

"He targeted, in particular, impoverished children, families in the poor community in Kuala Lumpur, which is 6,500 miles away from the UK, which added to the complexities of our investigation.

"He exploited their poverty and Huckle used a pseudonym and stated he was living in India to cover his tracks.

"He went on to Malaysia to abuse girls, boys, babies, toddlers and pre-teens.

"His abuse included multiple rapes and penetrative assaults and he uploaded still and moving images and graphic details to paedophile networks on the dark web.

"Amazingly enough he kept an electronic ledger to record his abuse on which he awarded himself points. He scored the offences depending on the severity, of his own offences for his own purposes.

"He would score one point to himself per category per victim.

"The scale of his offending can be shown by the fact he got himself to 1305 points between November 2013 and November 2014.

"He would sum up each week with dates against the name of the victim, the location, age and sex and tick against one or more categories he scored in."

After sentencing, an NSPCC spokesman said: "Huckle is a frighteningly depraved paedophile, who bragged about raping babies and delighted in abusing infants who trusted him.

"He left a trail of devastation and his sentence reflects the severity of his crimes which have shattered so many young lives.

"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."