Mildura man Chris Rankin walks free on bail as police allege massive stash of child abuse material

A former Mildura kindergarten worker is back in the community after being granted bail, despite police alleging he stockpiled a trove of child abuse material across multiple devices.

Ex Mildura kindergarten worker Chris Rankin has allegedly been busted with thousands of images of child abuse material. Picture: Facebook

An ex-Mildura kindergarten worker accused of stockpiling and producing child abuse material is now back in the community, after being granted bail despite an alleged trove of images being uncovered by investigators.

Chris Rankin, 35, appeared before Mildura Magistrates’ Court via AV Link from remand as he learned the fate of his protracted bail application that stretched over three weeks.

The court heard investigators had analysed the majority of the devices seized from Mr Rankin’s home and allegedly located thousands more pieces of child abuse material.

However, it was not confirmed how many of the alleged images were duplicated or cached.

A potentially major piece of evidence, a computer tower police said was “three or four times” bigger than devices already analysed, remained unexamined.

Mildura kindergarten cleaner Chris Rankin was allegedly busted with thousands of pieces of child abuse material by police. Picture: Facebook

“So since Sunday and up until yesterday I’ve been in Melbourne triaging all the electronic devices … I’ve been able to analyse all devices except for the computer tower,” Detective Senior Constable Jake Casey told the court.

“All of the devices that have been triaged I’ve located approximately 5000 more images of child abuse material within those devices.”

Mr Rankin, who had worked as a cleaner at a popular Mildura kindergarten and as a teacher’s aide at Merbein P-10 College, was supported in court by his parents, who appeared in person.

None of the alleged victim’s are thought to be from Merbein P-10 College.

Images police alleged were child abuse material included footage filmed with a hidden camera in a bathroom, and digital files where photos of children had allegedly been altered to show them in sexualised poses.

Chris Rankin a former teacher’s aide at Merbein P-10 College has allegedly been busted with thousands of images of child abuse material. Picture: Facebook

Police previously told the court Mr Rankin “was happy to chat about devices not connected to potential offending, but clammed up when potentially incriminating devices were brought up”, giving what was described as a “primarily no comment interview”.

Constable Jake Casey told the court analysts had identified an application called KeepSafe, which stored data in the cloud, and flagged that Mr Rankin could still have access to the allegedly offending material.

However, he conceded the main risk of Mr Rankin tampering with potential evidence had been diminished, although not entirely extinguished.

Police told the court they anticipated discovering more data on the remaining device, a computer tower, that still needs to be analysed. Picture: Facebook

Magistrate Michael Coghlan granted Mr Rankin bail, citing his lack of prior history, strong family support, and the likelihood of a lengthy delay before his committal hearing.

Under strict conditions, the former childcare worker will be required to live with his parents, and was barred from using the internet except for banking and myGov.

He was also prohibited from contacting witnesses except the informant.

He replied, “Yes, Your Honour,” when asked if he understood his bail conditions.

A suppression order was initially sought by Mr Rankin’s lawyer, Alex McLennan, but was withdrawn before it was heard.

Police requested more time to present a summary of evidence, called a hand up brief, so they could continue analysing devices.

A new date for the hand-up brief was secured by police, now due August 13, ahead of a committal mention slated for September 24.