John Thorogood, a 75-year-old man from London, was sentenced to over seven years in prison for sexually abusing young boys in Morocco, reported the National Crime Agency (NCA) on Wednesday.
The NCA, Europol, and Dutch authorities’ joint investigations revealed that the arrested pedophile was a prominent member of an organized international abuse network whose members traveled together to attack children across the globe.
Thorogood, known to other members as ‘the Trader,’ appeared in a series of abuse images recovered from another member of the group, which showed him sexually assaulting boys aged 10-12 in Morocco in 2012.
The investigation revealed that members of this most heinous crime ring communicated regularly via encrypted emails.
The convicted also coughed up copious amounts of pornographic material involving young children.
Thorogood has previous convictions relating to possessing and distributing indecent images of children, from December 2021.
NCA officers unencrypted his phone and computer and found over 200,000 images of underage abuse. Thorogood took some of the photos and showed boys as young as one-year-old.
Thorogood used the same camera to take a picture of his suitcase, which had a luggage label showing flight details from London to Casablanca, Morocco, in July 2012. This led to his identification.
During the sentencing at Wood Green Crown Court on August 31, Thorogood pleaded guilty to seven counts, including sexual activity with a child, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, and three counts of creating indecent images of children.
He was remanded into custody and received a sentence of seven years and eight months in prison.
Thorogood is subject to a 15-year sexual harm prevention order, as he was placed on the sex offenders register for life, and will face a five-year worldwide travel ban upon release from prison.
Christopher Behn, another member of the network from Essex, is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence for sexually abusing boys in various Southeast Asian nations on over 20 trips between 2008-2018.