Maurice James Cox, 67, allegedly contacted children via social media accounts after prison release

A convicted paedophile has allegedly reoffended within weeks of being released from prison for eight counts of grooming children aged under 16.

A convicted paedophile has allegedly reoffended within weeks of being released from prison for eight counts of grooming children aged under 16.

Maurice James Cox, 67, was sentenced in Rockhampton District Court on February 8 after pleading guilty to eight counts of grooming children aged under 16, eight of using electronic communication to procure children, one of using a carriage service to transmit child exploitation material and one of using a carriage service to access child exploitation material.

Cox, who is unemployed, was a registered sex offender when he contacted the six female children, aged 10-14, over a five-month period in 2020.

Judge Jeff Clarke sentenced Cox in February to three years prison to be suspended after serving 15 months with a five-year operational period and declared 433 days presentence.

He was released from prison in March, arrived back in Rockhampton on April 11 and purchased a new phone on April 20.

Mr Cox had charges from May and June 2022 mentioned for the first time in Rockhampton Magistrates Court this week – two counts of using the internet to procure a child and eight counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations under the Child Protection Act.

Lawyer Mirren Smith ordered briefs for all charges as they would need to be dealt with in the district court.

An affidavit prepared by police in Mr Cox’s proceedings, filed with the court, outlined the allegations and why police would object to bail.

The document stated police carried out a compliance check at Mr Cox’s residence – a room in a Rockhampton motel attached to a licensed premise – on June 8 at 1pm.

Mr Cox was also wanted for questioning in relation to failing to comply with reporting obligations where he did not report during May 2022.

The document states police asked Mr Cox to provide them with all of his electronic devices for inspection as per his reporting obligations, with Mr Cox handing over a small Telstra phone, with no password, which had been sighted on a small table next to his bed.

Police alleged when they asked if he had any other devices, Mr Cox replied no.

The document states police then allegedly found a larger black Alcatel mobile phone in a black case on the same table, concealed behind a coffee cup and plugged into the wall charging.

Police allege Mr Cox told them it was a remote control before telling them he only had one SIM card he regularly changed between the two phones.

The document states that Mr Cox told police he had not made any changes to his personal details, including social media and email addresses.

However, it is alleged that during a check of the Alcatel mobile phone, police located many child exploitation photographs of unknown female children aged about eight to 12 years in their underwear and exposing their chest area.

Police conducted further examination of the phones on June 9 and allegedly identified further evidence of offences on the Alcatel phone including various unreported social media site – Kik, Skype, Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram – and email addresses, along with conversations with unreported young children using the various platforms.

Mr Cox is accused of creating accounts on each of the social media platforms, with accounts created mid April on YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok.

The documents state further examinations of the social accounts revealed conversations between Mr Cox and an alleged 13-year-old girl after he told the girl he was 4o years old.

Police allege Mr Cox made many requests for indecent acts from the girl, namely to masturbate and send nude images of herself.

The documents state many photographs of another child with a different user name, who told Mr Cox she was 11 years old, were located in Mr Cox’s photo gallery and records showed he had spoken to her in phone calls twice that lasted over an hour or two each time.

The documents also state the Probation and Parole Rockhampton case manager contacted police on June 10 advising Mr Cox had attended their office to speak to them about his recent charges and advised he had purchased a new phone in May which he used to contact children online to discuss sex and request images from them.

The police affidavit stated when Mr Cox was asked, he said he “did not feel as if his actions were wrong”.

The document states Mr Cox’s criminal record included three convictions in 2005 for possessing child exploitation material and one fail to comply with reporting obligations in 2007.

Mr Cox’s 2022 charges will next be mentioned on August 24.

He was remanded in custody.