Sex beast Richard Huckle raped and abused up to 200 children - including a baby in a nappy - before he was found tortured to death in his jail cell at HMP Full Sutton, near York, last October.This week, fellow lag Paul Fitzgerald, 30, was found guilty of murdering Huckle in a "prolonged attack" that he claimed was "poetic justice" for the children the paedophile abused.
Fitzgerald said he wanted Huckle to feel what his victims had felt after strangling him with an electrical cable sheath, inserting a pen into his brain and sexually assaulting him with a blunt object.
Hull Crown Court heard that the lag took numerous objects to Huckle's cell at the top-security jail - including a shank made from a melted toothbrush - before murdering him "in cold blood".
It was also told that Huckle - who awarded himself "PedoPoints" based on the severity of his crimes - suffered multiple blows to the face and one to the kidney during the attack.For some, Huckle's death last year was a "just end" for a vile predator who abused kids in Malaysia over nine years and sold images of his sick abuse on the dark web.
He targeted the vulnerable youngsters in churches, orphanages and schools.
But what turned a normal kid from a loving family into a sex monster who preyed on innocent children?
"Lovely" parents with good morals
Huckle's childhood bears none of the hallmarks of deprivation one might expect for one of the UK's most prolific criminals.
While many paedophiles were sexually abused, neglected or abandoned themselves as children, Huckle made no such claims and described his childhood as 'ordinary'.
"His parents were lovely people and good parents," a former schoolmate tells us.
He is also believed to have grown up with a brother.Living with his middle-class family in the leafy market town of Ashford, Kent, Huckle seemed destined for success, with church-going parents and childhood pals.
Fellow students at his Folkestone primary school remember him as a quiet but popular child who was among only a few pupils accepted into a selective all-boys grammar secondary school.
"He was so quiet, it was almost like he kept his academic ability a secret even as a child," the source adds. "He was a normal child, interested in normal things like Action Man."
'Rat-like' teen
But after finishing primary school and starting at nearby Harvey Grammar School, Huckle's life began to unravel - as he "drifted away" from some pals and allegedly dabbled with petty crime.
"Huckle was bit of an odd lad but he did have a few close mates," one boy, who also attended the grammar school, tells us.
"He actually got into trouble for selling counterfeit Pokemon cards, and was trying to make money on the latest trends."
A fan of strategy card games like Warhammer, "loner" Huckle was an easy target for school bullies.
"He was an odd kid so he couldn't go a day without some sort of ribbing about anything really," our source says.
"He was called rat-like because of his appearance."
