A depraved paedophile who made sick films of himself abusing three young children and posted them on the internet has been jailed for at least seven years.

Under the sentence of imprisonment for public protection, Darren Leggett will only be released if the parole board considers he is no longer a danger.

Branding the abuse "appalling", Judge Philip Statman told him: "You would be deluding yourself if you thought you would necessarily be released at the first opportunity of seven years."

Leggett, of Mount Avenue, Yalding, Maidstone, admitted four offences of rape, eight of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, two of sexual activity with a child, four of sexual assault, two of assault by penetration, one of arranging a child for a sexual offence, three of taking indecent photographs of children, four of possessing indecent images of children and three of distributing indecent images of children.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Leggett, 32, was working in a supermarket in the town when he first came into contact with the victims.

Andrew Espley, prosecuting, said the offences were revealed when a boy abused told a teacher what had been happening.

Films were then discovered of Leggett committing the horrific abuse.

He put titles on films. One bragged of having sex with the boy without him knowing he was filming it. The clip lasted almost 12 minutes.

On another, lasting almost 25 minutes, the closing title reads: “What enjoyment that was!!!”

He spoke of raping the girl “every which way you can think”.

Det Sgt Dave Shipley, a specialist in online exploitation of children, became aware while Leggett was on bail of two websites containing some of the videos.

Operation Cake was set up with undercover officer “JJ” posing as a paedophile.

Calling himself Ben, Leggett contacted JJ and told him he was interested in having sex with children.

He also said he had films of him having sex with three children and emailed them to JJ.

Darren Leggett was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court

Mr Espley said Leggett was shaking and trembling when arrested at his parents’ home in February. But when handcuffed, he joked that he preferred “pink fluffy ones”.

A rucksack seized contained cannabis equipment, cable ties, a knife and 13 pairs of boys’ pants.

Leggett’s websites contained 60 images of children from the lowest level of one up to the highest of five. One website was headed “the best child site ever”.

Judge Statman said the items found in Leggett's rucksack showed the level of danger he posed to the community as a whole.

His attitude to children was abundantly clear on the websites when he stated: "We are not sickos, we just like children more than adult women or men. It is not wrong to like who you are. You are who you are."

A message Leggett sent on his mobile phone stated: "I have been look (sic) around for kids. I’m working on a plan to take one soon to rape and kill and eat."

The judge told him: "It is of the deepest concern that not only are you engaged in illicit activity on the internet, you are also capable of committing contact offences in relation to young children."

There was no doubt Leggett, he said, suffered from distorted views and a high level of sexual fantasy.

"you have a distorted thought-pattern that leads to the view that sexual activity is a way of loving your victims..." – judge philip statman

"You have a distorted thought-pattern that leads to the view that sexual activity is a way of loving your victims," he continued. "You are wrong."

Judge Statman said he had given anxious consideration as to whether he should impose a life sentence, but was just persuaded he should not.

"However, I am satisfied you represent a significant risk of committing further specified offences. Dangerousness is well and truly passed in the terms of the test in your case," he said.

Imprisonment for public protection (IPP) was imposed for the rape offences.

If the sentence had been determinate, it would have been 14 years.

The judge stressed he wanted Leggett and the public to understand what IPP meant – that he may not even be considered for release after serving seven years.

Judge Statman urged the authorities to ensure Leggett completed a sex offender programme.

He will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life and be banned from working with children or vulnerable adults. A sexual offences prevention order was imposed, also for life.

The judge praised the police for "the extremely well-handled and sensitively conducted operation". It showed also just how important the undercover officer was in the case, he added.

DS Dave Shipley led the investigation

Speaking after sentence, DS Dave Shipley, from Kent Police, said: "Leggett used children as objects for his depraved desires, as commodities which he was content to trade and share with others, with no thought for the impact his actions would have on his victims.

"Through the joined-up working of the agencies involved, a dangerous man
has been brought to justice for his crimes.

"As a result, we have been able to identify the victims and take steps to ensure they are protected from any further harm."

He said the case was an excellent example of information sharing between those who police the internet and those who police the community.

Emma Lowther, Internet Watch Foundation director of communications, said: "It is with thanks to the person who anonymously made a report to the Internet Watch Foundation that our hotline could assess the serious nature of the websites and work with police colleagues who identified the man behind them.

"These websites were out of the ordinary with serious depraved desires to trade, sell, and rent children.

"Thanks to the close partnership working, within a week of the report being received, a dangerous offender and distributor of child sexual abuse images was arrested and in less than four months has been imprisoned."

Crispian Cartwright, defending, described the offending as "an absolutely lamentable catalogue and about as depressing to read as anything can be".

He added: "This is a man who opened up and spoke about his behaviour really with devastating candour. Saying sorry is almost an impertinence, but he is sorry.

"This is a man who through his own admission showed he was a paedophile. He faced up to it. He has the terrible misfortune to be cursed with paedophilia.

"There is a dawning in his mind how wrong this behaviour has been. He was living in a fantasy world where actions were condoned and encouraged.

"He now realises it is terribly and gravely wrong. He now wants to change. He knows it will take a very long time. He wants to make sure nothing like this will ever occur again.

"He expresses his absolute horror and bitter regret at the appalling way he has behaved over the years, behaviour which right-thinking members of society think is wicked."

Mr Cartwright added the abuse offences in a perverse way occurred in a context of affection, but it was love of the most perverted sort."