Locked up: Leeds ‘number one’ paedophile who hoarded 300,000 child sex images

Daniel Taylor, 31, possessed more than 300,000 indecent images, including a large number considered the most extreme, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Taylor, of Heights Drive, Farnley, Leeds, had 47 devices including hard drives, phones, memory sticks and a laptop to store the pictures.

Judge Rodney Grant said Taylor must serve a minimum of three years, minus time spent in custody, before he can be considered for release.

He said a report described him as “opportunistic and predatory”, and he posed a danger to children in the future.

Father-of-two Taylor was identified by Scotland Yard as the single most prolific “owner” of child abuse images in the UK, and is still listed as number one in the country.

He pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including making and possessing indecent images and sexually assaulting a baby. He also asked for three other charges to be taken into consideration.

The court was told Taylor filmed himself sexually assaulting a his victim twice. None of the charges relate to Taylor’s children.

During a search of his property, officers discovered a tin in the kitchen containing a covert camera disguised as a lighter which was capable of capturing and storing video images.

The court was told the offences were so serious because of the amount of material involved and the horrific nature of the content, with 328 images graded at level 5 - considered the most extreme. More than 5,000 were graded at level 4.

Officers also found an instruction video for paedophiles showing them how to abuse children from birth until the age of eight.

Taylor, who worked in a family business supplying and fitting gutters, encrypted his web of computers and storage devices, but police used state-of-the art technology to break his codes and access the material.

Judge Grant said: “Fortunately it a rare occurrence that a court has to deal with a case such as this involving such a huge volume of child pornography and the sexual abuse of a very young child.

“The making of the video and the taking of photos of a very small child involved a breach of trust.”

He said Taylor posed a danger and an indeterminate sentence was his only option. He also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for life and to comply with a sexual offences prevention order.

Prosecuting Stephen Grattage said: “The aggravating features of this case are the breach of trust involved, the planning, the use of a covert video camera and the pre-teen instruction video and the extreme youth of the child involved.”

Mitigating, Kitty Taylor said her client was remorseful and sorry for his actions, adding: “He has lost everything, his children, his partner and his good name.”

Taylor was arrested in December 2010 after the Metropolitan Police brought the matter to the attention of the Regional Organised Crime Unit of Yorkshire and the Humber.

Using file-sharing technology and software from the USA which cross-references a range of data in order to “rank” suspects, the Met had identified Taylor as being the single most prolific “owner” of indecent images.

Detective Superintendent Steve Waite said after the hearing: “This case is the first of its kind for the Yorkshire and Humber region.

“Using this new technology and working in partnership has helped us to identify the most prolific offenders of this nature and enabled us to target our resources in the most effective way.

“Taylor has highlighted during this case that not everyone who sexually assaults children fits into a stereotypical category, as he portrayed himself as a caring family man to the outside world, but behind closed doors he was something more sinister.”