A Briton living in the United States who plotted to kidnap, rape, kill and eat children has been jailed for nearly 27 years.
Geoffrey Portway was sentenced to 26 years and eight months today after US authorities found a dungeon, homemade child-sized coffin, butchering kit and torture tools in his home.
Portway, 40, of Worcester, Massachusetts, chatted online with other paedophiles and solicited their help in kidnapping a child with the intent of raping, killing and eating them.
Investigators found a soundproofed dungeon in Portway's home
Portway pleaded guilty in May to solicitation to kidnap a child and distribution and possession of child pornography.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the US district court in Worcester had to sentence him to a term between 216 and 327 months in prison, before he is deported.
The US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts has said that according to the agreed statement of facts, Portway engaged in numerous chats with many individuals about a mutual interest in abducting, raping, murdering and eating children.
Many of these conversations were accompanied by the trading of child pornography. These chats also included images of children known to them, accompanied by discussions of the desire to sexually abuse, murder and eat them.
Portway solicited several people for their help in abducting a child, predominantly Michael Arnett, of Kansas.
Portway used Skype and other methods to communicate with Arnett, trading child pornography including images of injured, mutilated and dead children while chatting about the sexual abuse, rape, abduction, murder and cannibalism of children.
Over months, he repeatedly solicited Arnett to kidnap a child for him, with the intent that Portway would ultimately rape, kill and eat the child.
The solicitations for help abducting a child included discussing real children, by name and photo, whom Arnett claimed to know and have access to.
Portway and Arnett, 38, discussed different ways to kidnap youngsters and the age range that Portway preferred, US authorities have said.
Portway, known online as Fat Longpig, was told that Arnett, jailed for 30 years in May, had experience with the abduction and sexual abuse of children.
On July 27 last year, federal agents and police raided Portway's home.
Computers and digital devices containing his child pornography collection were seized, as well as the computer he used to trade sick images and plan the abduction of a child.
Agents also discovered a locked door in the basement.
Inside a second door was a dungeon lined with sound-deadening material and containing a chair, television and what appeared to be cable access to the internet.
The room also contained a child-sized homemade coffin with exterior locking devices, a steel cage approximately 3ft, 2ft high and 4ft long.
It had multiple locking devices, and a steel table top with steel rings at six points, which investigators believe were used as restraints.
Outside the rooms were a cabinet freezer, an upright freezer, disposable scalpels, butchering kits and castration tools.
In recovered online discussions, Portway described the dungeon as a place he intended to keep kidnapped children, sexually abuse them, murder them and then eat them.
The mother of one child Portway and his accomplices targeted spoke of her terror after learning of their sick plans.
She told investigators: "My initial response, after hitting my knees and thanking God for his faithfulness and mercy in keeping my son safe, was one of fear and disgust.
"A mother is quick to play over in her mind what could have happened.
"Many nights I would wake up from a nightmare with a strong need to check to be sure my son really was sleeping peacefully in his bed - feeling so grateful that he was and at the same time feeling profound sadness and empathy for all of the parents whose children weren't."
Portway, who was born in Spain, possessed more than 20,000 images and videos of children being abused.
In one internet exchange with another paedophile about how to get rid of evidence, they agreed on feeding a child victim's remains to alligators.