I too am interested in the how and why. Very much so. If any good can come out of this, it will be for us as a society to look more carefully and discerningly at the factors that can result in some people developing such dark predilections. So that we can prevent young people getting to the point that the conscience dies and no longer responds with horror to worse and worse sexual depravity and cruelty against children.
I don't know anything about HE's background. But I personally don't believe very many people are 'born evil' I believe it's at best a combination of environmental/psychosocial factors along with character traits and weaknesses.
Porn addiction for e.g. is not treated the way Alcohol or drug addiction is. There is shame and stigma on a different level. You cannot readily go to your GP and get treated on the NHS for it e.g. (as far as I know anyway someone correct me if they know differently) yet you can lose everything, your marriage, your family. It causes many divorces and that's without a man consuming the truly perverted stuff. I personally really believe one ought to be able to have access to specialised therapy on the NHS. And (from reading another thread on this subject) I am wondering if people should be able to hand themselves voluntarily to the Police if they stray into looking at stuff they regret without fear of having the book thrown at them immediately or have some measure applied, I don't know.
I did a BSc psychology degree and we did modules on addiction, on how the brain adapts to constant stimulation by modulating itself so that you require more shocking stuff each time to get the same thrill, how neurotransmitters express themselves differently over time, so that you almost cannot get through a day without needing the hit. What we did not do, was cover porn addiction or anything to do with sex at all beyond relationships. I really think that was a weakness of the otherwise very comprehensive program. We covered paedophilia once briefly in a unit on family relationships and all that was said was that is a word we must only use in the strictest sense in a paper etc. Because most abusers of children are not truly paedophiles, they don't from a young age have an overwhelming attraction to children who haven't gone through puberty. They can be attracted to people who are past puberty meaning they have often cultivated that desire. A true paedophile may never act on such feelings and seek help and hate themselves.
We have research showing that lack of emotional engagement by a parent, excessively authoritarian parenting, parental absence or neglect or trauma in childhood often appear in the histories of drug and alcohol addicts. But porn addiction no one really adds that to the pile and yet logically, a stressed child has access to masturbation and the internet very easily, or may be exposed to inappropriate things at a young age. With alcohol or drugs or smoking, they often have to go through adults for those. It is much more easier now to access porn via internet. In my day a person would have to purchase a magazine from the top shelf of the newsagent and who would want to do endure the mortification of that? Not many. And it couldn't be anything truly debased. Now no one need see you at all.
I believe this starts with porn addiction most of the time. I conjecture that at one point H.E probably when younger than now, was just into porn and went further and further and did not get help, or possibily didn't want to. If he truly did have depression, maybe it made him more compulsive. Overtime, it came to dominate his personality and entwine itself in his character and he took greater risks to satisfy himself. It then took over his life. By then his conscience was more or less dead, now anchored by pride and a god persona created by years of sycophancy and seeming success. The success caused him to falsely believe he was controlling the situation and gave him a convenient alternative persona that few would ask questions of. He was able to split himself in two (men are good at compartmentalising) to avoid any cognitive dissonance and uncomfortable feelings. He went to work as one person and spent his time lying to himself the rest of the time. He became adept at it. A complete double life. He got used to it. Lies, lies, lies to himself and everyone every day and night. His poor wife was living with a stranger for years. His wife and lover was his addiction. It was more important and cherished by him than anything else probably by then.
As someone said earlier, paedophiles seldom show remorse. They double down or make excuses when confronted. They no longer are capable of feeling for their victims. It is probably now too late for any form of therapy or intervention to help H.E. (Well actually we don't know if this was the first and only time he had such severely grave material in his possession, but he hasn't displayed much humility publicly. He could have turned to the mass of cameras outside the courtroom and apologised to his family with his own voice for e.g. but didn't)
I do think far more has to be done to protect young people and tackle online porn. In some ways we are behaving like internet hasn't happened. I think Education wellbeing in schools TA's ought to be proactively trained to help and there should be a confiding service available in schools where young people can talk about any issues they are having, again, without the full force of the law necessarily being brought to bear.
I thought the government brought in the online safety bill to help tackle this stuff?