Allan Bruce Reece in court for possessing child exploitation material

A Bundaberg court has heard how police tracked a man down through his IP address, and how past ‘trauma’, including being sexually abused at boarding school, had potentially contributed to his offending.

A 69-year-old man who had a collection of 8291 child exploitation images and videos was sentenced in the Bundaberg District Court on Monday.

Allan Bruce Reece previously pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material on May 19.

The court heard Reece was 68 years old when he was found with the images in January, 2021, of which 3840 were declared to be unique images.

Police identified him through his IP address and conducted a search of his home, where he made early admissions to police about what he had done.

Police found category one images which involved girls under the age of 12 performing sex acts on adults and using sex toys.

Defence barrister Nick Larter told the court Reece suffered from a traumatic childhood as a schoolboy at Waverley College in Sydney.

It was there that Reece was sexually assaulted as a child at the boarding school, which caused him “psychological issues”.

The court heard Reece had otherwise led a “normal” life and had a “loving and caring” 31-year marriage.

Allan Bruce Reece was sentenced to 12 months jail, suspended after four months for two years.

The marriage broke down after Reece’s son died in a car accident at the age of 24.

The incident led to “a great deal of sadness” for the couple, which later resulted in the marriage falling apart.

The court heard Reece had no contact with his daughter after the breakdown of his marriage and “wasn’t sure why”.

Judge John Allen told Reece he would take into consideration that he had no criminal history and he showed remorse for his offending.

“Your psychological issues derive from a number of events in your past, in particular, sexual offences against you while a child at boarding school,” Judge Allen said.

“You have had a blameless adult life, you’ve worked in the army, you’ve worked as a truck driver, you had a 31-year marriage.”

Judge Allen told Reece he hoped he considered the lives impacted by the making of the child exploitation material.

“I hope since you’ve been arrested, you’ve had some time to think about the pain these children have suffered,” he said.

Reece was sentenced to 12 months jail, suspended after four months for two years.

He was ordered not to commit any offence during the two year period, or he would be sent back to jail to serve the rest of his sentence.