Buderim electrician Paul Bingham denied bail over alleged child abuse material possession

A Sunshine Coast father and electrician will remain behind bars until next year after his bail was refused for charges of possessing child abuse material.

A Buderim electrician and father has been denied bail after allegedly being sprung in a federal police raid in possession of mobile phones containing child abuse material transmitted from a social media account

Australian Federal Police officers charged Paul Bingham with one count of accessing child abuse material using a carriage service and one count of possessing child abuse material accessed or obtained using a carriage service.

The 35-year-old was arrested and charged on Tuesday, November 23, after a search warrant at his home allegedly uncovered the material on two mobile phones.

The search was the result of an investigation which began after the Australian Federal Police-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation received a missing children’s report regarding material being transmitted from a Kik social media account.

Investigators from the Australian Federal Police’s Brisbane Child Protection Operations team identified the man as the alleged user of the account and he allegedly made admissions to using the Kik application on his mobile to access group chats that contained child abuse material, according to court documents.

Paul Bingham, 35, was charged with one count of accessing child abuse material using a carriage service and one count of possessing child abuse material accessed or obtained using a carriage service.

Mr Bingham was refused watch-house bail on Tuesday due to him being at risk of deleting evidence to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

According to court documents, Mr Bingham stated the links to the files in Mega were sent via the Kik group which allowed him to access those files.

Mr Bingham said he had a number of Mega links stored on his mobile phone, a large majority of these when clicked on displayed a message stating the were no longer available as they contained illegal material such as child abuse material.

Police were able to locate a number of active links from his mobile, which led to child abuse material held in online storage accounts including Mega or Dropbox.

The documents revealed there was evidence that indicated Mr Bingham had been allegedly accessing the material since July 2021 but potentially back to 2018.

Mr Bingham’s defence lawyer told the court he was the breadwinner of his family through his electrical business which he runs full-time.

Mr Bingham did not enter a plea and the matter was adjourned until February 25, 2022.

The maximum penalty for both offences is 15 years’ imprisonment, if found guilty.

Paul Bingham, 35, was charged with one count of accessing child abuse material using a carriage service and one count of possessing child abuse material accessed or obtained using a carriage service.

The two mobile phones seized by police will be subject to further forensic examination.

Australian Federal Police Detective Acting Superintendent Kurt Wesche said the charges demonstrated the Australian Federal Police’s commitment to investigate and prosecute anyone believed to be involved in child exploitation and sexual abuse.

“This work is gut-wrenching, but our investigators are relentless in their pursuit of anyone sharing or accessing child abuse material, and they will follow up any information to bring these people to justice,” Supt Wesche said.

Members of the public who have any information about people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online.