Joao Carlos Jardim dos Santos Teixeira – Eastbourne

A man who ran dark web groups sharing child sexual abuse and rape torture videos was told he will spend a substantial sentence in prison, a court heard.

Joao Carlos Jardim dos Santos Teixeira admitted running two online groups as part of an organised crime group.

Teixeira, 25, from Eastbourne was in charge of a dark net group and another on a messaging app, which shared the most serious child sex abuse images and videos.

The court heard the groups shared thousands of images and videos of children under 12.

He ran the site called Shota Heaven and another chat group called Naughty Room 3.0.

Teixeira also admitted possession of more than 13,000 prohibited images of children, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to 12 charges at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

He also admitted facilitating the sexual exploitation of children.

His Honour Judge Stephen Mooney told him: “You will receive a substantial prison sentence.

“The only question is how long that is going to be.”

Teixeira is due to be sentenced in February.