Man, 29, arrested over murder of one of the UK’s worst paedophiles

Richard Huckle, who awarded himself 'Pedopoints', was serving 22 life sentences when he was fatally stabbed last year.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering one of Britain’s worst paedophiles.

Richard Huckle, who abused nearly 200 children, died at HMP Full Sutton in Yorkshire on October 13 last year, after being reportedly stabbed in his cell with a makeshift blade.

Today Humberside Police said officers have arrested a suspect, 29, and passed a file to prosecutors for consideration.

They issued a short statement that said: ‘A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of a man at HMP Full Sutton on October 13 2019.

‘A file has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and we are awaiting their decision regarding charges.’

Huckle was given 22 life sentences at the Old Bailey in 2016 for an unprecedented number of offences against children aged between six months and 12 years old.

The freelance photographer, from Ashford in Kent, awarded himself ‘Pedopoints’ for different acts of abuse against 191 youngsters, and sold images of his depravity on the dark web.

In online posts, Huckle bragged that it was easier to target impoverished children in Malaysia – where he posed as an English teacher and philanthropist – than those from wealthy Western backgrounds.

He was arrested when he was stopped at Gatwick Airport en route to spend Christmas with his family in 2014, after Australian authorities tipped off the UK’s National Crime Agency.

At the time of his arrest, he was writing a guide to teach fellow paedophiles how to abuse children and avoid detection.

Officers seized his encrypted laptop and managed to uncover more than 20,000 indecent pictures and videos, although there were other files they were unable to crack.