The cases received increasing news coverage in a fast-changing landscape that saw a proliferation of media outlets with growing interest in compelling visual images -- such as a heart-rending photo of a smiling child or video of parents pleading for their child's safe return.

CNN: Missing child case 'awakened America'

Peter Malpas, 47, from Moulton, Northamptonshire, is serving a minimum of five years and nine months after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a child aged under 13 and possession and distribution of indecent images of children.

BBC: Paedophile ring members jailed indefinitely

Simon Wyn-Davies, 38, a soldier from Windsor, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court after pleading guilty to 22 counts of rape on a child under 13.

BBC: Paedophile ring members jailed indefinitely