Pedophile John Michael Toye jailed for the second time in three years

A convicted pedophile released a couple of years ago has gone straight back to prison after a judge was stunned by his crimes.

John Michael Toye has been jailed for the second time in three years. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

A pedophile who discussed perverse ideas and “role-played” about children with a woman online shortly after being released from prison has been jailed for his “shameful” offences.

John Michael Toye, 43, was released from prison after serving more than a year behind bars shortly before his arrest by SA Police for further child abuse material offences in 2024.

During sentencing on Friday, Judge Anthony Allen said the content of the messages that make up the Salisbury man’s offending defied belief.

“The flippant manner in which you spoke of material depicting the shameful trauma of children really beggars belief,” Judge Allen said.

“The exchanges you made with a similarly minded online pedophile were plainly repugnant and gravely explicit.”

His Honour said it was “troubling” that despite his recent interactions with the court, Toye “descended into a very similar species of offending” on conditional release.

Toye was first jailed in 2022 after he was one of 11 South Australian men arrested through Operation Molto – a two-year international initiative targeting purveyors of child exploitation material.

He was sentenced to one year, four months and seven days imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 10 months, backdated to December, 2021.

He was released from prison and ordered to enter into a good behaviour bond – during which the court heard he spent time at Owenia House, which runs programs to help rehabilitate offenders and reduce sexual assaults.

Following his arrest, Toye pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing, disseminating and producing child exploitation material.

During sentencing, the court heard Toye’s addiction to meth contributed to his offending, impaired his judgment and causing him to exhibit “disinhibited behaviour”.

His Honour said he showed a “complete lack” of insight about his pedophilic disorder when speaking to an expert psychologist.

The court heard the psychologist believed he presented a moderate to high risk of reoffending.

Judge Allen revoked the suspension on his prior sentence, and backdated it to April 29, 2024.

His Honour sentenced Toye to three years and six months’ jail, with a non-parole period of two years and one month – which will begin on June 20, 2025.