A former BBC Radio 1 DJ has been jailed for 12 years for arranging to sexually abuse vulnerable children in the Philippines.
Mark Page, who worked at the station in the 1980s, was guilty of “grotesque sexual abuse” of children as young as 12 and took advantage of their poverty, the judge said.
The trial heard that Page, 63, tried to bargain down the price for a sexual encounter with a girl aged 12 and a 13-year-old boy, saying 3,000 pesos (£44) was too much.
The father of three, well known on Teesside as the match announcer at Middlesbrough football club games for 20 years until his arrest, was convicted on Wednesday of four counts of arranging the commission of a child sexual offence between 2016 and 2019.
Two of the charges related to contact he had via a webcam from his home, while two happened during his frequent trips to the Philippines.
Judge Paul Watson QC jailed him for 12 years and imposed a lifelong sexual harm prevention order on Thursday.
Watson said: “The offences of which you have been convicted involve the grotesque sexual abuse of young children for your own sexual gratification. You took advantage of the poverty and deprivation in an underdeveloped country in which children are routinely forced, through economic and social deprivation, into acts of prostitution.
“Your sole purpose was to engage children, as young as 12, in vile sexual activity to satisfy your perverted appetites.”
The judge said Page did not care that he was inflicting long-term trauma and emotional damage on the children, and “robbing them of the innocence of their childhoods”.
He added: “You obviously delighted in their humiliation and the satisfaction of your own corrupt sexual desires. This was, in my view, the very embodiment of depravity.”
One of Page’s victims has been traced and now lives in a place of safety.
Prosecutors told Teesside crown court that about 60,000 children had been forced into prostitution in the Philippines and the situation had worsened because of the “crippling poverty” under lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
Page’s trial heard how he used frequent business trips to the Philippines and charity work as a cover. The former DJ claimed to the jury that his devices had been hacked, but he did not mention this during his police interview.
Facebook alerted a charity after concerns were raised about messaging on its platform. The charity informed UK law enforcement and Cleveland police carried out a search warrant at his home in January 2020.
Analysts studied a tablet, mobile phone and computer tower and checked Page’s Skype activity, texts, bank account and money transfers before charging him.
DS Kevin Carter, of Cleveland police, said: “The court heard how Page attempted to present himself as a respectable and credible individual, yet his actions betrayed the trust and confidence of many people, not least his family and close friends.”
