How tiny device hid ‘unthinkable’ child abuse material

It was a tiny device in plain sight in a toy-filled bedroom. But it contained what police have called “horrendous, unthinkable material”.

Grant Harden has been jailed for 22 years following the horrifying discovery made by the AFP.

They were two pieces of tiny computer technology, the size of a pinky and palm.

But the mobile phone and USB stick, sitting in plain sight in the toy-filled bedroom of a nondescript house, unlocked some of the most depraved paedophilia ever uncovered in Australia.

The devastating discovery formed just one tentacle of the nation’s largest online child abuse probe. It was only the beginning.

The NewsLocal four-part series, Inside Arkstone, is out now. Follow how the twisted web of selfishness and disgust travelled from that first Wyong home to most corners of Australia, leading to the arrest of 26 men and the rescue of 56 children

That search warrant was the result of a global effort, sparking from a tip off from US authorities. Over the next two-and-a-half-years, it snowballed into an investigation at a scale the Australian Federal Police had never embarked on before.

These shocking discoveries, which rocked even the most seasoned of child protection officers, became a stark warning that paedophiles are taking advantage of advancing encryption methods and popular chat platforms to exchange images and videos of child abuse online.

For the first time, the frontline officers who spearheaded the investigation have shared its inner workings, as well as the challenges that come with sifting through millions of unimaginably horrific material and dropping bombshells of devastating news on families.

“I was absolutely shocked,” AFP acting sergeant Scott Veltmeyer said from the AFP’s Sydney headquarters, recalling the moment he first saw the content from that Wyong home.

Child Protection Operations acting Sergeant Scott Veltmeyer has spoken about the horrific discovery. Picture: Tim Hunter

“It was horrendous, unthinkable material. I could not believe this was happening to children. You would never want anyone to watch those videos.”

It was the accent which rocked battle-hardened AFP Detective Leading Senior Constable Kate Laidler, despite her days spent chasing the filthiest predators.

“These children were clearly Australian,” she said, referring to the victims in the mountains of videos she was faced with.

“We could tell from the accent and material… we are acutely aware we might be the only people who are looking for these children and it might be the only opportunity to rescue them. You feel this sense of pressure.”

One mother was grateful her son had been saved from the cruel hands of former soccer coach Grant Harden, who recorded himself abusing several children and sent thousands of videos of it and other child abuse into the online syndicate in exchange for receiving abuse material from others.

But the harm that had already been done could never be reversed.

Devices seized in the arrest of Wyong man Justin Radford, 29, in February 2020 as part of an Australian Federal Police investigation into online sharing of child sex abuse material. Picture: AFP

Junior soccer coach Grant Harden when he was arrested. Picture: AFP

“You look back and think, ‘how did I not see signs? How did we not know that this person was doing these things to our child’?” the mother asked.

“It’s heartbreaking feeling like a failure as a parent … because someone hurt our child and we didn’t know.”

Harden was jailed for a minimum of 22 years – a sentence he intends to appeal. But the families he shattered are living with lifelong sentences.

They’ve shared their stories of betrayal and heartbreak to highlight an uncomfortable but incredibly important issue.

And finally, all men linked to the disgusting online syndicate can be revealed, from those who pleaded guilty to viewing some of its material to those who pleaded guilty to abusing children themselves.