AFP officer charged with accessing child exploitation material

AN AUSTRALIAN Federal Police officer has walked from court after being charged with allegedly accessing child exploitation material.

AN AUSTRALIAN Federal Police officer has been granted bail after being charged with allegedly accessing child exploitation material.

Gregory Paul Edwards, 45, appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday charged with using a carriage service for child pornography.

He was granted conditional bail and shielded his face from a waiting media pack with a jumper as he left the court precinct.

Court documents, which list Edwards’ occupation as “police officer”, allege he accessed child pornography material at Geebung, north of Brisbane between June 15 and August 30 this year.

Edwards was charged following raids at a Geebung home on Wednesday.

The AFP has stood down the officer suspending him from duty.

The AFP said it would not comment further on the case, but issued a statement saying the agency was “committed to its members behaving at all times in a manner that upholds the AFP’s core values, and the organisation’s reputation and integrity”.

Edwards’ bail conditions include reporting regularly to Hendra police station, restrictions on internet use and surrendering any firearms registered in his name to the AFP’s professional standards.

The matter will return to court on October 6.