DIA Success Child Abuser Jailed In Scotland, Child Pornography Trader Jailed In New Zealand

The jailing of child pornography trader today highlights two important points: that sexual abuse of children is the source of child pornography, and that international co-operation can bring abusers to justice.

The Department of Internal Affairs’ investigation has also led to the jailing of a man in Scotland, for the sexual abuse of a young boy.

Judge Butler in the Christchurch District Court sentenced him to a total term of 26 months imprisonment. This was imposed on 17 indictable charges covering the making of a web site, three counts of trading pictures and 13 counts of distributing image files all of which were child pornographic. On the remaining 70 charges of possession of child pornography (which were punishable by a fine only) he was convicted and discharged.

On 20 June the Edinburgh High Court sentenced him to 7 years jail for the sexual abuse of a friend’s son for two years. The boy was seven when the abuse began.

Scottish social services are working with the boy and his family and no details will be released that could lead to them being identified.

The General Manager of the Department’s Gaming and Censorship Regulation Group, Keith Manch, said that child pornography traders and collectors typically try to normalise or downplay the abuse of children that they derive pleasure from.

The pictures of the Scottish boy being repeatedly sexually abused also include scenes of the boy opening Christmas presents and playing.

“No matter how they attempt to portray sexual abuse of a child as if it was part of normal life,” Mr Manch said, “people who trade and collect child pornography are taking pleasure from the criminal abuse of children, and they incite more abuse to be inflicted.

“Trading is seldom about making money. It is about users of child pornography wanting to expand their collections and to obtain increasingly extreme images. To meet that demand, more children are abused.

”New Zealand action against child pornography is part of international action against the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.”

In this case, some of the images the Department found on his computer were sent to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States.

The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) saw the images, thought they could be from the United Kingdom and contacted the Department. The Department supplied further information from its investigation.

The GMP, using a research facility based in Ireland, were able to trace the images to Scotland where the Central Scotland Police identified the child and offender.

“The co-operation between The Department, NCMEC, and different British police forces was excellent,” Mr Manch said. “It is also standard practice. The Department routinely works with enforcement agencies around the world.

“The Internet has allowed offenders to trade child pornography internationally, but it also allows enforcement agencies to share information in an instant.”

Background
The man is a 30-year-old self-employed computer technician.

He has previously been convicted on 28 charges of trading and possessing child pornography. On 12 June 1998 he was sentenced to one year in jail on those earlier charges.

In July 2000 a Department Inspector found a New Zealander trading child pornography in an Internet relay chat channel. The New Zealander was offering to trade images of toddlers being sexually abused in exchange for images of boys aged under 12 engaged in sexual acts.

In July 2001 the German State Police forwarded information to the Department about what turned out to be the same New Zealander posting images in a child pornography newsgroup.

Combining the two sets of information, the Department identified the man and in September 2001 executed search warrants on his home and at one of the businesses where he had been working. He had been using the businesses Internet account to trade child pornography. No objectionable material was found on the businesses computers.

Two computers, a ZIP drive, nine ZIP disks, three separate hard drives, 303 diskettes, 100 CDs, two cameras, three films, 73 video tapes, 15 books and posters were seized from his home.

Analysis of the material seized found the child pornography images he had been collecting, evidence that he had been trading the images, and evidence that he had built a website and operated Internet relay chat channels that catered for proponents of “boylove”.

There were also several thousand image files contained in encrypted files in directories named “preschool”, “preteen”, “diapers” and “3yrold”. Analysis of one file server programme showed that in a two-month period it had been used to acquire 1,200 files from visitors, and to send 2,300 files.

Several months later the business where he had worked complained to the Department that someone was fraudulently using the business’ Internet account. The Police were advised, they investigated, and in February 2002 executed a search warrant on the man's home.

They seized two computers that he had built or acquired since the previous warrant had been executed.

Analysis of these computers found evidence of Internet searches for “preteen”, “infant + penis”, “child + pornography” and “boylove”, plus more encrypted files.

During a series of appearances in the Christchurch District Court in May and June this year, he pleaded guilty to 87 child pornography charges. The charges all related to images of children being sexually abused by adults, engaged in sexual acts with each other and in sexualised poses.

He was the first child pornography offender to be remanded in custody for sentencing, and the 26 months jail sentence is the longest imposed to date in New Zealand.

“He is highly computer literate, has previously served a jail term for similar offending and has some understanding of how the Department operates, but when he chose to reoffend he was caught,” Mr Manch said.

“The message for New Zealanders who choose to trade child pornography is that if they do not stop, then they will eventually be found.”

Please note: The business where the man had been working is an innocent party. He was not an employee, but was hired as a technician to do some work on its computers. The company is not named in the summary of facts presented to the Court and the Department will not release its name.

Media contact:
Keith Manch Telephone 04 495-9449 Cellular 027 445-6420
General Manager Gaming and Censorship Regulation
Paul Duke Telephone 03 353 8310 Cellular 025 990 710
Communications Advisor