Former BBC journalist Duncan Bartlett has been jailed for eight years for child sexual offences.
The ex-reporter, who worked for the BBC in Tokyo and as a reporter on World Business Report on BBC News over a period of 14 years, was found to have 6,000 indecent images of children.
Police also found that Bartlett had paid people in the Phillipines to make live films of children being exploited sexually.
At a hearing on August 30, Bartlett pleaded guilty to 35 offences and on Monday at Wood Green Crown Court he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
According to the Metropolitan Police, Bartlett pleaded guilty to 11 counts of causing a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity;
nine counts of causing a girl 13-15 to engage in sexual activity; ten counts of paying for the sexual services of girl under 13; three counts of making indecent images of children; and two counts of encouraging the commission of either way offences.
After leaving the BBC in 2015, he joined London’s SOAS University as a China researcher. According to the Telegraph, the university was not aware of his offending until December 10.
A spokeswoman for SOAS confirmed Bartlett was a research associate and contractor at SOAS’ China Institute between January 1 2021 and September 30 2024.
She said: “Although not a permanent member of staff or in a student-facing role, he was paid as a contractor to produce a series of podcasts about China, producing his last edition in September 2024.
“Neither SOAS nor the SOAS China Institute were aware of any legal proceedings before we were contacted by the media about this case today.”
Detective Constable Emily Dawson who led the investigation said: “Over a period of seven years, Bartlett made multiple payments to people in the Philippines asking that they arrange children to be sexually exploited for his own gratification.
“With close liaison work with our counterparts in the Philippines, we managed to identify and safeguard some of these children while several adults were arrested.
“Bartlett’s behaviour was utterly abhorrent but thanks to the painstaking work of detectives, a case documenting his offending was put together – this left him with no option but to admit his guilt.”
