June 2019 Prolific paedophile from Whitby paid to watch children being sexually abused online One of the first men in North Yorkshire to be convicted of downloading indecent images of children in 1999 has today been jailed for ten years for similar offences. Lorry driver Richard Clark, of Whitby, sent money to the Philippines to watch live internet footage of children being sexually abused. Many of the images were in the most serious category and showed children crying as they were exploited by adults. He also contacted young girls from the UK on the internet and gave them money in exchange for indecent images of themselves. The 58-year-old was charged with arranging the sexual exploitation of a child and making indecent images of children following an investigation by North Yorkshire Police. A judge at York Crown Court today jailed Clark – who lived in Fishburn Road, Whitby but had been remanded in custody – giving him an extended sentence of ten years. Clark was also made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order until further notice, to prevent him from reoffending on his release, and will have to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for the rest of his life. In 1999, Clark was sentenced to nine months in prison for indecent image offences – one of the first people in the county to be successfully prosecuted for the crime. February 2019 Police found 40,000 child-abuse images on Whitby man’s mobile phone A 58-year-old man who had over 40,000 child-porn images on his phone has been told to expect a lengthy prison sentence. Richard Clark, from Whitby, appeared via video link at York Crown Court for what was due to be a sentence hearing on Wednesday, but yet another adjournment was ordered because the prosecution case wasn’t ready. Clark, of York Terrace, had pleaded guilty in October to three counts of making indecent images and three counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child-sex offence. Prosecutor Camille Morland said police found more than 40,000 indecent photos on Clark’s mobile phone. she said there was also evidence that Clark had used that phone to communicate with a child. Ms Moreland said the adjournments since Clark’s guilty pleas had been chiefly caused by the sheer number of illegal images on his phone. Clark had been due to be sentenced in December, but the prosecution asked for an adjournment for “further enquiries” at the behest of police. Ms Morland asked for another thee-month adjournment on Wednesday to give the prosecution time to compile all the evidence. Defence barrister Ben Thomas said his client had been on remand in Hull Prison for the past four months and urged the court to move straight to sentence. But Judge Andrew Stubbs QC “reluctantly” agreed to adjourn sentence to May 13, while expressing his exasperation at the repeated adjournments. He said the case had “not been investigated as quickly as it should have been”. He remanded Clark in prison until the sentence hearing and warned him it was “highly likely” that he would receive an extended jail term.