Bell (pictured) faces jail after he paid paedophiles in the Philippines to assault children and rape and unconscious woman

A 51-year-old paedophile who paid 93p to watch a girl being abused in the Philippines faces jail for live streaming the sexual assault on his computer.

Mathew Bell paid paedophiles attack children while he watched from thousands of miles away.

In one instance, it cost him only 93p to view a young girl being abused. The High Court in Glasgow heard Scots cybercrime experts had never encountered such a case before in this country.

Bell also directed a man to rape an unconscious woman via a live stream from his home in Irvine, Ayrshire.

Bell was remanded in custody after he pleaded guilty to four charges under the Sexual Offences Act. They included 'inciting the commission' of the abuse of children as well as conspiring to rape the woman.

He also admitted making indecent photographs of children. The offences took place between 2013 and 2017.

Judge Lord Arthurson told Bell, a first offender, that his crimes were of the 'utmost depravity'.

The court was told Bell was arrested in March last year, when his computer and hard drive were analysed.

Prosecutor Steven Borthwick said: 'Moving images of child sexual exploitation were recovered. Bell has instructed said abuse to take place by verbal and written communication to persons in the Philippines via internet message services.'

Bell was in touch with women in the Philippines via messaging service Skype and instructed them what to do.

The court heard there was evidence of Bell 'making payment for the sexual services of a child'. Mr Borthwick said a screenshot taken from his computer 'showed Bell making a payment of 50 piso (93p)'.

Bell made recordings of the attacks, which were found on his computer and hard drive. Mr Borthwick said: 'Normally, cybercrime police recover images in which an accused person has not been involved in the abuse itself, but has instead downloaded.

'The cybercrime unit is not aware of any other case involving live-streaming of child sexual abuse in a foreign jurisdiction.'

Police also uncovered footage of a woman being raped in 2013 – under the direction of Bell over the internet.

The crime is thought to have occurred in the Philippines – 6,700 miles away.

Mr Borthwick said there had been an 'agreed plan' and Bell 'acted in concert' to sexually assault the woman. The court was told the accomplice often turned to camera 'as if awaiting instruction' from Bell. Bell had been on bail, but was yesterday remanded into custody by Lord Arthurson, who told him: 'You have tendered pleas to charges that can be categorised as serious sexual offending of the utmost depravity.'

Bell, who will return to court for sentencing next month, was also placed on the sex offenders' register.

An NSPCC spokesman said: 'This horrific case shows once again that, when abuse images are accessed online, victims are created in the real world.

'Behind every sickening video viewed by Bell are real children suffering the most appalling sexual abuse.

'The production of child abuse images is a global criminal industry and the war to stop it is only just beginning.

'The NSPCC is campaigning for internet companies, government and law enforcement to do far more to prevent abuse images from being produced and circulated in the first place.'