3. februar 2012, 13:16 – opdateret 3. februar 2012, 13:29

A US judge has accused Denmark of going too easy on sex criminals.

After sentencing 61-year-old Danish IT consultant, Kai Lundstrøm Pedersen, to a 30-year jail sentence, Thursday, for producing and transporting child pornography and for extortion against an 11-year-old girl, US District Judge Greg Kays brushed aside a defence claim that the sex offender would only have been given 6 years in his own country.

The judge said Denmark doesn't take this kind crime seriously enough and that Pedersen’s case also presented an unusual opportunity to send a message to those who produce child pornography abroad and beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. “Based on this sentence, I don’t think you’re going back to Denmark,” Judge Kays said as he announced the sentence in Kansas City.

The local Kansas City Star described Pedersen as a 'relentless Danish sex predator who used Facebook to stalk and threaten an 11-year-old Missouri girl'. Although most of the crimes were committed in Denmark, he was tracked and arrested by federal agents whilst on a holiday in the US unrelated to his campaign of terror against the girl.

In his guilty plea, Pedersen admitting meeting the girl online in July 2010. Posing as a 14-year-old boy, he persuaded the girl to pose nude in front of a web camera and then posted the video online after she stopped communicating with him. He also assumed multiple identities and sent her messages threatening rape and murder.

In a statement read to the court, Pedersen apologized to the girl, calling his conduct 'awful' and 'inexcusable' and expressed hope that the memory would fade for her and her family.

Public prosecutor Patrick Daly had demanded an even harsher sentence, claiming the effects of Pedersen’s conduct will linger far longer than any prison term he serves because he shared the video online. 'This is a crime of perpetuity that will go on longer than 15 years, longer than 30 years, as long as there is an Internet." Mr Daly said.