Man who raped one-year-old daughter and posted videos on dark web jailed for 70 years

Mother had to identify her daughter in the videos, recognising her husband’s hand, their sofa, and child's stuffed animal

A paramedic who filmed himself raping his one-year-old daughter and distributed the videos over the dark web has been jailed for 70 years.

James Lockhart, 31, received the maximum possible sentence at a US District Court in Florida after pleading guilty to producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography.

Between March 2016 and February 2018 Lockhart uploaded four “sexually violent” videos in which he recorded himself raping his child, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Lockhart displayed his online nicknames, “StrangeWood” and “HardWood,” in the videos “to gain notoriety” on the dark web forum where he posted them, the department said.

“This deviant committed the most horrible atrocities imaginable to a one-year-old child,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) special agent Michael Cochran.

Lockhart created other videos and images of the girl and “bragged” of sexually abusing a second one-year-old child, prosecutors said.

He also collected child pornography involving other victims. Agents who searched his home seized devices containing 43 videos and at least 4,000 images of child pornography depicting “sadomasochistic and violent conduct”.

Authorities executed a warrant at Lockhart’s house in Bradenton, Florida, on 5 October last year after linking the videos he posted online to his IP address.

His wife, who was at home with the couple’s children at the time of the search, spoke with agents and identified her daughter in images taken from the videos. She also recognised her husband’s hand, their sofa, and her daughter’s stuffed animal, according to the Bradenton Herald.

Lockhart, who worked for a private paramedic company, was arrested that day. He admitted the charges against him as part of a plea deal on 26 March and was sentenced on Thursday.

The agreement requires him to co-operate fully with other investigations and testify in cases connected to his.

Lockhart was prosecuted following an international investigation in which agents from the US and Australia infiltrated high-level child pornography rings and websites.

"HSI’s national and international partnerships have helped ensure that this predator will never again harm a child," said Mr Cochran.