Scope Echuca disability worker Daffyd Knox pleads guilty to child porn offences

An Echuca disability support worker has been nabbed with hundreds of disturbing child porn images, some of children young as six.

Daffyd Knox has pleaded guilty to downloading more than 350 illicit photos of children as young as six. Picture: Facebook

A disability support worker has blamed pop-up ads on a porn website and a compulsion to save everything for landing him with more than 350 vile child porn files.

Daffyd Knox, 57, pleaded guilty to possessing the disturbing images, including several of children as young as six.

Police raided Knox’s St Kilda apartment after his laptop was used to access the horrid content.

The computer and a USB was seized as part of the investigation, which uncovered 361 child pornography images saved to the devices.

Knox’s defence lawyer Neil Howard told the court his client had made a “mistake” by saving the images which had popped up on his screen while he was accessing a legal pornography site.

“My client purchased a legal subscription to a homosexual pornography website and whilst he was enjoying that website a number of pop-ups came on to his system,” he said.

“Where the mistake lies with Mr Knox is that he has then progressed the viewing of those pop-ups — pop-ups he didn’t ask for — (by saving them) on to a USB key.

“He has a habit about him that he clicks and saves everything that comes on to his computer.”

During a police interview, Knox said there was “a definite possibility” he had downloaded child exploitation material, including images of underage boys, and that “I definitely knew having that stuff was illegal”.

Knox, who now lives in Echuca, has worked as a disability support worker with Scope for almost 25 years.

Mr Howard said his client‘s “greatest fear … is that someone will eventually discover this indiscretion and that will be the end of his employment”.

“He’s fearful of the press getting a hold of this in the Echuca/Moama region, despite my assurances that won’t happen.

“It was a stupid act, but for this one stupid act he’s going to pay a heavy price.”

Mr Howard said Knox had been “butchered and bullied” throughout his school life and suffered from anxiety and depression, and has been regularly seeing a psychologist in relation to the criminal charges which date back to May 2017.

“The delay in bringing this matter (before the court) has had a profound effect on my client,” he said.

“It flies in the face of the seriousness (of the charges) in general terms but I would be asking the court to place this man on an undertaking, if not a monetary penalty that reflects the seriousness but also his remorsefulness, the delay and the repercussions that are likely to extend upon him.”

Magistrate Johanna Metcalf deferred sentencing Knox until September 9 to “give (Knox) an opportunity to continue his therapeutic treatment”.

“I’m not suggesting it’s acceptable but (the material is) not at the higher end,” she said

“Clearly this has had a big impact on him … but equally, this sort of material causes great misery for the subject of it — it’s exploitative and if people didn’t view it there wouldn’t be a market for it.

“But certainly if there were continued engagement in therapy that … I would be able to take that into account (in sentencing).”

He has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for eight years.