Army major Phillip Blowers jailed for child porn offences

His job was to protect the country, but army veteran Philip Blowers was committing horrific offences that led to his arrest at the Royal Australian Navy’s Potts Point headquarters.

Phillip George Blowers has been jailed for five years. Picture: AAP Image/Paul Miller

A veteran officer in the Australian Army has been jailed for five years after he was caught participating in an online child porn network.

Phillip George Blowers was arrested at the Royal Australian Navy’s Potts Point headquarters in 2017 after an Australian Federal Police investigation was sparked by a tip-off from US authorities about a child porn ring that exchanged abuse material using the mobile phone app known as Kik.

Blowers was jailed for a maximum five years just before Christmas after a District Court jury found him guilty of 25 charges relating to the viewing and trading of child abuse material using the online alias “airCargoMan“.

In sentencing Blowers, a 50-year-old with a wife and two young children, Judge Stephen Norrish told the court the material viewed by the senior army officer was “grossly offensive by definition” and featured young children performing sexual acts.

The court heard Blowers had served in the army since he was 21.

Blowers became a Captain in 1996 and a Major in 2002 and Judge Norris told the court he had been exposed to traumatic scenes during his career.

“I accept he has worked in traumatic environments such as East Timor, Tonga after a tsunami, also in Border Patrol operations, witnessing the aftermath of capsized vessels,” Judge Norrish told the court.

Blowers pleaded not guilty to the charges and told investigators his phone had been hacked.

However, the court heard that on one occasion he had accidentally sent his wife a message that was “of a similar character” to the online chats regarding child abuse material.

“He made an excuse to his wife that his mobile phone had been hacked and that he was not the author of the message that she received in March of 2017,” Judge Norrish told the court. “As it turned out, he had sent many messages of a similar character to the one sent to his wife…”

Blowers attempted to hide his actions when he was arrested on September 28, 2017, the court heard.

He initially provided police with an iPhone 6 and an Apple iPad, neither of which had the “Kik” application downloaded on them.

But police kept searching and found an iPhone 7 that Blowers had tried to hide under a hat.

The phone had the “Kik” application downloaded on the home screen and was logged into the account of “airCargoMan” with the display name “PB”, the court heard.

A search of the phone uncovered “38 unique single images” and “four unique videos depicting child pornography” that were transmitted using the account, the court heard.

They were also shared multiple times across 36 unique chats with individuals or groups of users in multiple groups, including one that was known as “Kidzonly“.

Despite his offending, the court heard Blowers’ wife — who was pregnant with their second child when he was arrested — continued to support him.

Blowers pleaded not guilty and denied his role in the offending, meaning he was not entitled to lenience for showing remorse.