Mark Page, 63, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in March for arranging the commission of four child sex offences between 2016 and 2019. The sentence was increased to 18 years by three Court of Appeal judges on Friday, who said the original term was too lenient and did not reflect Page’s “overall criminality.” Page worked as an announcer for Middlesbrough FC and at BBC Radio 1 in the 1980s. At Teesside Crown Court, he was accused of “grotesque sexual abuse” of children as young as 12. Jurors were told that the divorced father-of-three from Stockton, Teesside, used frequent business and charity trips to the Philippines to cover up the abuse. Two of the charges stemmed from incidents seen on his webcam at home, while the other two occurred in the Philippines. He pleaded not guilty to all four charges but failed to persuade the jury that his devices had been hacked. Judge Paul Watson QC sentenced him in March, telling him, “You took advantage of poverty and deprivation in an underdeveloped country where children are routinely forced, through economic and social deprivation, into acts of prostitution.” “Your sole goal was to engage children as young as 12 in vile sexual activity in order to satisfy your perverted appetites.” It didn’t matter to you that you were robbing them of their childhood innocence, or that you were causing them long-term trauma and emotional damage. You obviously took pleasure in their humiliation and the fulfilment of your own corrupt sexual desires. This, in my opinion, was the epitome of depravity.” He was arrested after some of his messages raised concerns on Facebook. Police then searched his home and investigated his Skype and money transfer accounts. Page is now subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the rest of his life.