A paedophile who once claimed he was falsely convicted is likely to have been offending for at least 24 years, crime chiefs fear.

David Mould, 68, was jailed for 21 years on Friday after he admitted 24 sickening offences.

They included sexually abusing and exploiting children during trips to the Philippines and Nepal, and teaching other paedophiles how to groom and abuse victims.

The prosecution case covered overseas trips he made between April 2018 and May 2019.

But the National Crime Agency suspects he may have been offending from at least 1999, when he was arrested for possession of child abuse images and then briefly jailed in 2000.

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Three years later Mould, from Seaford, East Sussex, complained to a local newspaper that he had “lost everything” after claiming he was wrongfully convicted.

Mould told The Argus in Brighton in September 2003: “My life has been ruined.

“I am still very bitter. I would like to see an inquiry into all the cases (they) have covered, not just for myself but for others who may have become innocent victims.”

At the time of his 1999 arrest investigators found he was computer literate and had managed to erase an entire drive of child abuse images.

But he missed a single shot he had used as screen wallpaper and there was evidence of his computer accessing paedophile websites.

Hazel Stewart, senior investigating officer on the latest case, told the Sunday Express: “The suggestion is he will have been offending from that earlier conviction to the present day.”

The NCA is appealing for any other of his victims to come forward by calling its Control Centre on 0370 496 7622.

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The 24 offences he admitted at Lewes Crown Court on Friday included attempting to cause a child to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity, two counts of causing/inciting child sexual exploitation and five counts of sexual activity with a child.

The court heard that in 2019 Brazilian police passed the NCA details of a prolific user and moderator of a dark website with the username “Globe Trotter”, who they believed was in the UK.

The user shared his own twisted experiences of abusing children and gave detailed advice on where best to travel to find victims.

The NCA was able to identify him as Mould and he was arrested at home during lockdown in April 2020.

Seized digital equipment held more than 100,000 indecent images of children, together with four interactive paedophile manuals detailing techniques on how to avoid detection.

With the assistance of the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation victims helped to identify Mould, who worked for a computer manufacturer, as one of the men who had abused them.

Mould had saved some of his chat logs on a hard drive which highlighted the high regards other paedophiles had for him.

One wrote: “Well you have done just about everything except buy me a plane ticket and bring the boy to my room.”

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