July 2023
‘Wicked and depraved’ paedophile who abused girl in North Wales dies in prison
A “wicked and depraved” prolific offending paedophile, who was the first person ever extradited from China to the UK, has died in prison.
David Price, 80, spent eight years on the run before being arrested in Asia in 2011, following a tip off from Merseyside Police to the Chinese authorities
Price had lived in the Gwynedd area, during the 80s, when some of his crimes were committed. The UK and China have no formal extradition treaty, and the then 69-year-old spent six months in a Chinese jail as diplomatic discussions went on behind the scenes.
However an “unprecedented” deal was struck and Price, originally from Southport, was returned to Merseyside to face justice for a raft of horrific charges.
Liverpool Crown Court heard in 2012 how, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Price travelled through Africa and the Middle East where he abused and took sick pictures of girls aged as young as seven.
Price was first arrested at his family home in Southport in 2003, when an undercover officer in America, posing as a paedophile, was contacted by Price who had invited him to Dubai to join in with the abuse of six young sisters, whose mother he had befriended. However the pervert skipped bail and fled the UK on a false passport in June 2005.
He then fled back to Africa, passing through Kenya and Tanzania before he cropped up in Hubei Province, China, where he worked as an English teacher to children. On his computer he meticulously categorised his library of horrific abuse and stored the material on external hard drives so his family would not stumble upon them.
The court heard how the 2003 case related to a business he set up called KiddiePix and Milly10, where he would take pictures of young girls and sell them on. More than 800 pictures were found when police analysed Price’s computer equipment.
Price pleaded guilty to 21 counts of possessing, making and distributing indecent images of children, as well as breach of bail. Due to the extradition arrangement, the Crown Prosecution Service was not able to charge Price with specific sexual assault offences.
Judge Mark Brown locked him up for seven years and eight months, telling Price he would have received a “considerably longer sentence” if he the CPS had not had their hands tied. Judge Brown told Price: “This is as bad as it gets, and falls right at the very top of the scale. Your conduct is rightly described as wicked and depraved.”
Price would, however, be forced to pay for his depraved history again after his release, after more victims came forward to report horrific offences from the 1980s. He was charged in 2019 with two counts of gross indecency with a child and one count of rape. His then wife, Lourdes Price, was charged with gross indecency and perverting the course of justice.
Caernarfon Crown Court during the 1980s Price, then living in the Gwynedd area, repeatedly sexually assaulted and took indecent pictures of a child whilst she was bound and gagged. He later went on to rape her.
The court heard how his wife appeared in some of the pictures and later helped destroy the images by pouring bleach on them. Price threatened his victim that if she told anyone what was happening she would “be in big trouble”.
There were no legal loopholes on this occasion and in November 2020, Judge Nicola Jones sentenced Price to 15 years in prison. She said: “I find that you present a significant harm, the reason for this is that this woman as a child was your third victim. Within your pre-sentence report and in your trial when you gave evidence you showed no remorse or insight into the harm you caused.
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