Mark Coombs fronts court over possession of child abuse material

A “socially anxious” Seymour grub resorted to sending and receiving hundreds of vile child abuse material during Covid restrictions.

Mark Coombs leaves the Shepparton Law Courts after pleading guilty to distributing and possessing child abuse material. Picture: Oscar Jaeger

A single man with limited social skills who during Covid restrictions possessed and distributed videos of young children performing vile sex acts will serve at least nine months behind bars.

Mark Coombs, 56, a hardware store worker from Seymour, appeared for sentencing in the County Court on Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty to four charges all relating to the possession and transmission of child abuse material.

He was ordered to serve nine months on all charges before being released to be of good behaviour for two years.

Judge Wendy Wilmoth said police found a number of chats with six different users on Telegram messaging and 650 unique files of child abuse material known as CAM during a search of Coombs iphone in early 2022.

Coombs admitted that he knew CAM was to do with people having sex with kids and that you get in a s---load of trouble if you accessed such materials.

Seymour man Mark Coombs sent and received child abuse material on his iphone during the Covid restrictions.

The images Coombs sent showed pre-pubescent children, many aged under 10, exposing their genitalia and engaging in different forms of sex. He sent a series of text messages to one user commenting about the bodies and genitals of children.

Coombs also sent images and videos of chil`dren, many under five engaged in penetrative sex, including a 3-year-old.

Judge Wilmoth said although the number of images transmitted and in Coombs possession was not of the highest order, it was nonetheless a considerable amount.

“More important is the nature of those material which in this case was the particular depravity. All the children depicted were young, in some cases very young, and different children were used in the worst manner.

“The children were victims of insidious international crime, made possible because there’s a market for it. Its seriousness is magnified by the ease with which it is transmitted,” she said.

A psychologist found Coombs to be a socially anxious man with limited social and communication skills. Judge Wilmoth said this was a background factor that contributed to Coombs’ offending which started during Covid restrictions.