Seven paedophiles were facing prison sentences last night after a court heard how they helped compile a vast Internet database of horrific images of child sex abuse.

The men, all from the UK and members of the Wonderland Club, an international ring of 180, have admitted swapping thousands of photos of children and even babies.

They were arrested in a global police operation spanning three continents.

A staggering 750,000 pictures - some of the most degrading ever seen - were seized by police, as well as a library of 1,800 computerised videos depicting children suffering sexual abuse.

David Perry QC, prosecuting, told Kingston Crown Court: "It was a vast Internet lending library in which its members swapped paedophilic photographs.

"All of the children involved were under the age of 16 and in one case the child was only three months."

The men, who have pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute indecent images of children, will be sentenced today