Detectives seek massive child porn ring victims

Police across the world are being led by London detectives in efforts to identify thousands of child sex victims after one of the world's largest paedophile rings was smashed.

The Wonderland Club was a sophisticated global internet operation which included some of the most degrading images of children ever seen.

Members of the club, who described themselves as "the cream of paedophiles", had to send in at least 10,000 indecent images of children to join. Police believe they know the identities of about 180 members of Wonderland, which was set up in November 1996.

Seven British men have admitted they were members and will be sentenced for their involvement next month.

Now detectives all over the world face the mammoth task of trying to identify the children involved - the youngest just three months old.

The ring was smashed by Operation Cathedral, the largest ever international operation to be co-ordinated by the National Crime Squad in London.

Simultaneous raids took place around the world with over 100 arrests in the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States.

A horrifying library of 750,000 computer images of more than 1,200 victims and 1,800 computerised videos depicting children suffering sexual abuse were found.

Detective Chief Inspector Alex Wood said: "We are talking about serious sexual abuse to young children of both sexes - and to say that it is stomach-churning does not quite describe well enough what it is. "We have pictures of children in hotel rooms and private environments - there is no way of telling where they came from."

"We can only guess and say that the Wonderland Club was the principal club worldwide. We cannot say how many paedophiles use the internet."

He says Wonderland members would not have stood out as loners: "On the face of it some would have had normal lives but it was not in any way possible to stumble into this world. They call themselves the cream of paedophiles, they are not the sort of people who suddenly develop an interest in paedophilia."