Woodend man Keith Barnett busted with thousands of child abuse images, told police he collected them

A vile Woodend pervert busted with thousands of child abuse images told police he enjoyed collecting them because he knew it was wrong.

Keith Phillip Barnett, 67 from Woodend, appeared in the County Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to a string of online child abuse charges.

A man who possessed “vile” child abuse material told police he did it “because he could” and he enjoyed collecting the material because he knew it was wrong.

Keith Phillip Barnett, 67, of Woodend, appeared in the County Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to a string of online child abuse charges.

The court heard during a two-year period between June 2020 and June 2022 he accessed both videos and photos of young children online via a US based chat website.

The material was mostly of girls between the ages of four and 10 and was sexualised in nature.

In total he accessed and possessed thousands of images and videos and told police in an interview he had been looking at it for eight to 10 years.

The images and videos were found on devices in his home, discovered during a search by the Australian Federal Police.

The court heard Barnett said he didn’t really have any interest in viewing the material he just used and “traded” it to start conversations with others.

Prosecution also submitted Barnett hadn’t shown any great remorse for his actions beyond putting his hand up and admitting to having it.

Barnett had worked in fields that required a high level of IT skills and had worked for both private companies and in the public service.

Judge Gerard Mullaly said Barnett had gone his whole life thinking he would never end up in jail but the community needed to be protected from him.

He said the actions of Barnett supported the broader production and circulation of “vile material”.

“He hasn’t profited but his activity is creating profit without using his credit card,” he said.

Barnett will reappear in court later this year for sentencing.