A paedophile who filmed himself attacking a child and then shared the images has been jailed.

Phillip Bassett, 30, from Dover, recorded himself attacking the girl four times.

When police discovered footage of the sickening assaults the predator was identified after showing his face, large gold watch and tattoos in four videos.

Bassett was today sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court for 18 years after admitting 15 sexual offences involving three children.

Judge Mark Weekes called Bassett “a danger to children” and the attacks “vile and repugnant abuse of a helpless girl.”

Bassett was sentenced to 12 years and nine months in custody with a further five years and three months extended licence.

He will be eligible for parole only after serving two thirds of the overall sentence. The abuser was unmasked when a printing company received a request to blow-up dozens of illegal snaps involving children, and notified the authorities. A police probe into the 40 sickening pictures would trace back to Bassett.

“Matters came to light as a result of an investigation resulting from a photo development company called Planet Art noticing an order which had indecent photos related to the request for 40 prints of four by six inch images,” prosecutor Janine Sheff explained.

“That was received in the early hours of 18 July 2020, it isn’t normally the case the pictures are checked, but a processor did notice the indecent images.

"(This was) a vile and repugnant abuse of a helpless girl...”

“DC Young then attended the premises and noticed they were of girls.”

The source of the photos led detectives to Bassett’s Dover address. During a raid the deviant tried concealing his mobile phone, however, he led officers to a stash of images hidden behind his fish tank.

After his iPhone 11 and other devices were seized he would try distancing himself from the photos.

He claimed he had no recollection of amassing the huge library, saying illicit material somehow appeared after cocaine binges.

But further investigations unearthed four videos showing the same child being molested with Bassett’s face, large gold watch and distinct forearm tattoos clearly visible.

Photos of schoolchildren which he took himself, with their heads superimposed over pornographic images of adults, were also unearthed.

Paediatric experts found no injuries on the child. When officers charged Bassett he said the allegations were “nonsense" because the girl had not been harmed.

Appearing via video link from HMP Elmley, Bassett left the frame of the camera after hearing the victim’s relatives were in court, before the hearing began.

He could be heard shouting: “I can do what I like, what are they going to do, put me in prison?”

"In truth, I can see very little personal mitigation apart from your troubled..."

But he returned to hear his lawyer say he was remorseful and his deviant behaviour spun out of control after becoming addicted to drugs.

James Burke said: “The defendant feels a great deal of remorse and shame and he finds it difficult to sit in this hearing.

“But he is doing so because he wants to show his resolve to address his offending behaviour.”

Bassett refused to attend court for the judge’s final sentence and remarks.

Sentencing in his absence, Judge Weekes said: “In truth, I can see very little personal mitigation apart from your troubled upbringing and guilty plea.”

Bassett, of Leyburne Road, will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely, and a lifetime of notification requirements.

Bassett pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault and 13 indecent image charges in December.

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