A former Chamber of Commerce president spent thousands of pounds live-streaming sexual abuse of children as young as 10 in the Philippines, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Peter Tomlinson, of Baring Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight, pleaded guilty at Newport Crown Court to 12 counts of child sexual abuse.

An NCA spokesman said the 63-year-old businessman and former president of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce paid £5,511 in 127 transactions to accounts in the Philippines between May 2015 and April 2017 to pay for the live images.

Tomlinson repeatedly asked for 'harder' abuse footage, spelling out what he wanted to see and then complaining about what he received

Investigators found he had also repeatedly paid one woman for the abuse of two young girls, one aged 10, between May 2018 and February 2019.

The spokesman said: “Investigators unearthed proof of thousands of messages between Tomlinson and the Filipino facilitator – who has been arrested and the children safeguarded.

“They exchanged 4,166 lines of chat on Skype – 358 indicated to be video calls and 3,809 text messages.

“During those calls Tomlinson repeatedly asked for ‘harder’ abuse footage, spelling out what he wanted to see and then complaining about what he received.

“In June 2018 he paid the woman £12.99 and then complained, saying for that price ‘I will expect a show with two girls for 30 minutes’.

“In one exchange in January 2019, Tomlinson said he would pay the woman £7.66 if she performed a sex act on the girl.

He was directly responsible for the most heinous abuse of children thousands of miles away from him

“Communication between Tomlinson and the woman was at all times of the day and night with him telling her, ‘I am busy in meetings’ and ‘I’m still working’.”

NCA operations manager Phil Eccles said: “Peter Tomlinson believed he could carry out his sickening offences from the comfort of his own home and get away with it.

“He was directly responsible for the most heinous abuse of children thousands of miles away from him.

“Live-streaming sex crimes exploits the vulnerable; he was helped in this case by facilitators whose motive is to make money.

“Live-streaming is a key threat to the UK, and one of the main forms of financially driven offending, for which the Philippines remains a key hub.”

Tomlinson will be sentenced on March 5.