Global reach of paedophile mastermind Philip Thompson

A global investigation into internet child abuse has led to 50 arrests in Britain with dozens more expected, police said yesterday.

More than a third of the 360 suspects identified so far in an inquiry into an online paedophile forum live in Britain. Investigators believe that they will locate thousands more subscribers around the world.

The most recent arrest warrant in the inquiry, codenamed Operation Elm, was executed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Winnipeg last week.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said that 15 British children had been safeguarded from abuse. It said that the men detained in Britain included a firefighter, a university lecturer and a police community support officer.

A CYBER librarian of child pornography who was loaning images and movies to Australian businessmen on the other side of the world, has been jailed.

Philip Anthony Thompson had for years administered a cyber library of borderline pornography from his home in North East England, attracting hundreds of like-minded customers.

But undercover detectives from the British Child Exploitation and Online Protection force found the "library" was just a front and certain customers were being invited to an adjoining cyber room to hire shocking videos of children being abused.

The Australia Federal Police was contacted after it was discovered a number of borrowers in the adjoining room were Australian businessmen.

At least six have now been arrested but inquiries are still going and more arrests are expected.