A 46-year-old man from the Zuid-Holland town of Barendrecht has been jailed for 18 years followed by compulsory psychiatric treatment for a series of sex attacks on children.

Mels van B was found guilty of abusing 31 children, mostly girls aged 10 to 12. Eighteen of his victims were attacked physically and the others were filmed as they used the bathroom or shower.

Most of the abuse took place on a campsite in Hoeven between January 2023 and September 2024 where Van B had a caravan for the season but some were also attacked at his home. The case came to light when one of his victims, a girl aged 10, woke up and told her parents what had happened.

Many of his victims were friends of his own children. He would drug them during sleepovers with high doses of sleeping pills before abusing and filming them.

During the police investigation it transpired he had also abused his daughter when she was a very young child. He described the abuse in court as a compulsion.

Judges said the long sentence and the psychiatric clinic term were “essential to protect society”.