St Joseph’s School Mundingburra principal Justen Orford arrested on child exploitation material

A Townsville Catholic school principal has been arrested for allegedly making child exploitation material of young girls.

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A TOWNSVILLE Catholic school principal has been charged with making child exploitation material.

St Joseph’s Catholic School Mundingburra principal Justen Orford, 47, was arrested and charged on Thursday after a two-month police investigation found he had allegedly been photographing girls.

Townsville's Child Protection and Investigation Unit were tipped off by Townsville Catholic Education after they “had concerns about some of the conduct” Orford was showing.

Justen Orford has been arrested over making child exploitation material. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Police will allege Orford was photographing girls in “quite open” settings and appearing to undertake normal behaviours.

Police have identified at least three “discrete” victims, between the ages of six and nine years old, but have a vast amount of material to sift through.

It is unknown at this stage if the children depicted in those images are from the school.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Miles said Orford’s alleged offending would likely come as a shock to the school.

“He is an individual who was extremely revered by the school community, held up on a pillar, and it will come as a shock to the school community,” Sergeant Miles said.

“It is quite disappointing, but as our work tells us, these people are in our community across every occupation and in every social setting.”

Sergeant Miles said it was difficult to identify victims in the photos seized due to the way they were taken.

Dave Miles.

He said family would be contacted if their child had been subject to abuse.

According to Orford’s LinkedIn, he worked as an assistant principal Holy Spirit School at Cranbrook.

It is understood he was appointed principal at the Mundingburra school in 2018.

Townsville Catholic Education executive director Jacqui Francis said Orford has been stood down and parents have been notified.

“We have notified the Queensland College of Teachers of the charges and anticipate that the Principal’s teacher registration will be suspended, pending determination of the charges through the criminal court system and/or the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal,” Ms Francis said.

“The safety and wellbeing of our students is of paramount importance in the school and all of our other schools.

Townsville Catholic Education takes student protection very seriously. Consistent with that, we have a dedicated Student Protection Team which implements and enforces our documented child protection framework.”

Orford has been charged with eight counts of using a carriage service to access child abuse material and three counts each of making CEM and possessing child exploitation material.

He has been refused bail and is due to appear in Townsville Magistrates Court on Friday.

Originally published as St Joseph’s School Mundingburra principal Justen Orford arrested on child exploitation material