A 46-year-old man has been jailed for 40 months to be followed by detention in a psychiatric clinic for sexually abusing eight young girls and the possession of self-made child pornography featuring 24 minors.

The victims were aged eight to 15 and the abuse took place at the man’s home in Alem, a village of 700 people, during sleep-overs organised by his own children.

Charges were first brought after one of the girls woke up while he was photographing her, and she told her parents. They brought in the police. Many of his victims were unaware they had been photographed, the court in Zutphen was told during September’s trial.

B, who had lived in the village for 20 years, was also active with both the local primary school and local hockey club, Omroep Gelderland said.

Police found some 34,000 images of children which he had taken on his computer and at his home. B was also ordered to pay his victims between €750 and €6,200 each.