Richard Huckle said he did not want to be "a martyr for child sex tourism" as he tried to avoid the full weight of British justice.
As news of the abuse of Malaysian children provoked national outrage, the 30-year-old blamed his "gullible" nature and bad influences on the dark web.
Huckle, who said he was full of remorse, faces multiple life sentences for abusing 23 children - although the actual tally is estimated to be much higher.
The aggravating features of the case included the sheer number of vulnerable children affected, the depravity of the acts, and the length of time he carried on.
His commitment was demonstrated in his efforts to make money by crowd funding videos of his abuse of a three year old girl.
He even cast himself as a trailblazer and encouraged other paedophiles to follow his example in a guide to abusing children in poverty which was to be posted online.
Mr Huckle was brought up in a comfortable middle-class Christian household but had shunned the company of other children and spent most of his teenage years at home on his computer.
The freelance photographer had been on his way home to spend the festive season with his parents in Ashford in Kent when the National Crime Agency swooped to arrest him on information from authorities in Australia.
Having been bailed on condition he stay at his parents' house, he confessed to his mother what he had been doing.
His parents immediately begged police to take him away and were even prepared to give evidence against him in a trial.
Huckle first began abusing children as soon as he reached adulthood when he molested a toddler during a gap year in Cambodia.
Thus began his nine-year campaign of rape and assault against up to 200 pre-pubescent children as young as six months old.
Although there was no evidence that he committed any crimes in Britain, Huckle cultivated his image of a devoutly Christian philanthropist at home and abroad.
He attended a church in north London as well as the Station Road Baptist Church in Ashford, the court heard.
He professed to being "in love" with south east Asia and posted numerous photographs of himself posing with its "adorable" young inhabitants on social media.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Huckle initially denied 91 charges at the Old Bailey.
As the date got closer, Huckle admitted some of the charges for which he would get a reduction in his sentence.
But prosecutor Brian O'Neill QC refused to accept his limited guilty pleas saying it did not represent the full picture of his crimes.
It was only after he finally pleaded guilty to 71 out of 91 charges that the Crown decided to let the rest of the offences lie on file.
In a psychiatric report prepared for his sentencing, Huckle blamed the influence of others for what he had done and said once he had served his sentence he wanted to settle down with a south Indian woman.
But a post from 2013 suggested his motivation for marrying one of his victims once she turned 18 was to set himself up as a foster carer to abuse even more youngsters.
