Jason Bran Lees remanded in custody, Emily Jane Walker pleads guilty, over computer hacking scam that netted $18m

They like to kiss for the camera outside court, but the honeymoon is over for this computer hacking couple who used a virus to help steal $18m from Aussie businesses.

A loved-up computer hacker couple helped siphon $18m from business bank accounts and payrolls through an “insidious, hard-to-detect and easy-to-do” crime spree, a court has heard.

In the District Court on Monday, Emily Jane Walker pleaded guilty to offences including using a computer virus to help Jason Bran Lees and another man steal money nationwide.

Lees, meanwhile, found himself headed for Yatala Labour Prison – the court cancelled his bail after prosecutors argued a long sentence was the “inevitable” consequence of his crimes.

It also heard the duo’s co-offender – Adelaide-born, NSW-based hacker Adam Jones – has been punished interstate for his role in the syndicate, earning an 11-year prison term.

Emily Jane Walker, left, and Jason Bran Lees, right, at a previous court appearance. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz.

However Andrew Ey, for Lees, urged the court not to give up on his client just yet.

“He has a 60 per cent equity in his home, and negotiations are underway for that to be sold and his share be provided to the victims in this matter,” he said.

“He’s also working and managing to put away $100 a week for restitution … that’s not going to come to a significant amount, but it’s something.”

Lees, 33, Walker, 29 both of Seaton, and Jones, 32, of Sydney, were arrested in February last year and charged with multiple fraud, hacking and cybercrime offences.

They targeted businesses, stole the personal data of their staff, broke into their systems and diverted their funds to hundreds of false bank accounts.

Their highly-lucrative scam was powered by a computer virus and hundreds of disposable mobile phone SIM cards, with the money laundered via cryptocurrency.

The loved-up couple have now been separated – Walker remains on bail, while Lees has been remanded in custody. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards.

On Monday, Alex Rathbone, prosecuting, said both Lees and Walker should be remanded in custody given they had finally confessed to their crimes.

“This offending was, we submit, a bit like child exploitation material offending – it’s insidious, it’s hard to detect and it’s easy to do,” she said.

Mr Ey said Lees’ offending was “far less serious” than that of Jones and may not warrant an immediate prison term.

Casey Issaacs, for Walker, said his client’s crimes were even less serious than those of Lees’, with “less than $100,000” of the thefts able to be attributed to her.

He conceded that, unlike Lees, she had a prior criminal history – for drug offending – but said that would be explained during sentencing submissions.

Mr Issaacs said he would argue Walker should be spared prison.

Judge Joanne Tracey remanded Lees in custody and Walker on continuing bail to face court again in November.