Fatal crash drug driver found with 30,000 child porn pics

IPSWICH father of seven downloaded the child pornography over a period of 12 weeks.

BEHIND BARS: Joshua Adam Thomas was driving a car involved in a fatal crash in 2012. His sentence was later reduced, however he reoffended by accessing child pornography while on parole. Picture: David Nielsen

POLICE on the hunt for people who download child pornography infiltrated the computer of an Ipswich dad and found more than 30,000 disturbing images.

An Ipswich court this week heard the material had been downloaded over a period of just 12 weeks.

The father of seven had been released from jail after being convicted of causing the death of a child while drug driving.

Joshua Adam Thomas, 33, from Collingwood Park, went before the District Court in Ipswich on Tuesday where he admitted to using a carriage service to access child pornography between August 10 and November 5, 2017; using a carriage service to make available child pornography; and knowingly possessing child exploitation material at Collingwood Park on November 4, 2017.

Crown prosecutor Farook Anoozer said Thomas was sentenced in May 2014 to a jail term for the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm.

Thomas was driving children home from school on August 14, 2012, when his car slammed into a tree at Redbank Plains. The seven-year-old daughter of a friend was killed. The nine-year jail term was reduced to seven years on appeal.

Mr Anoozer said Thomas was arrested for the new offences on November 4, 2017, and was returned to jail to serve the remainder of the existing sentence. Mr Anoozer said task force Argus found a large volume of child exploitation material on Thomas's computer, in addition to two USB sticks.

Mr Anoozer said the majority of the 30,816 images were classified as being Category 1.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren imposed a three months' jail sentence, cumulative on his previous jail term.

He will be eligible to apply for parole in 12 weeks.