Australia’s alleged worst pedophile ‘first detected in police sting’

One of the nation’s worst alleged pedophiles, now charged with rape and sexual abuse of 91 young girls, went deeper underground after a dark web child-sex ring was busted by authorities almost a decade ago.

The man allegedly shared some of his horrific images and videos with members of a site on the dark web called The Love Zone in 2013 and 2014.

One of the nation’s worst alleged pedophiles went deeper underground after a dark web child-sex ring was busted by Australian authorities almost a decade ago.

The childcare worker, now charged with the rape and sexual abuse of 91 young girls in 10 centres in Queensland, one in NSW and one overseas, allegedly shared images and videos on the dark web with members of a site called The Love Zone in 2013 and 2014, The Australian understands.

The Queensland Police Service’s internationally renowned Task Force Argos investigators infiltrated and then secretly took over the global network of child-sex offenders in 2014 after the head administrator had been identified as South Australian public servant Shannon Grant McCoole, who sexually abused at least seven children in his care.

Among images and videos of abuse scooped up in the operation were those shared by the 45-year-old Gold Coast-based childcare worker, who the Australian Federal Police this week announced had been charged with 1623 child abuse offences over the 15 years leading up to his arrest last ­August.

It was only his sharing of those images that led to his identification and arrest, with AFP victim identification team members cracking the case when they were last year able to trace bedsheets in the background to a Brisbane childcare centre at which he worked.

After The Love Zone sting, Task Force Argos moved into a new undercover operation, secretly taking over and running a child abuse forum called Childs Play on the dark web so they could covertly gather details on members and identify victims.

Meanwhile, having narrowly escaped detection and arrest, the Australian childcare worker is believed to have become more cautious about material he shared, The Australian has been told.

More than 100 children were rescued in the Childs Play operation. Lawyers, military personnel, IT workers and a healthcare professional working with children were among those arrested.

The Love Zone operation led to the arrest of “Britain’s worst pedophile”, Richard Huckle, who was convicted of the rape and sexual assault of 23 children from Malaysia and Cambodia.

Investigations into the childcare worker are understood to have taken a toll on the Australian victim identification experts and investigators, some of whom had children in childcare, with counselling offered to help them deal with the trauma of their work.

Disturbingly, the childcare worker had the confidence to allegedly abuse children in centres across Brisbane, home city of some of the world’s best victim identification experts and investigators, from Argos and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

The AFP alleges the man recorded his offending on phones and cameras while working in childcare centres in Brisbane between 2007 and 2013, at an overseas centre in 2013 and 2014, at a Sydney centre between 2014 and 2017, and again in Brisbane from 2018 to 2022.

AFP assistant commissioner Justine Gough on Wednesday said the childcare worker “had all the qualifications he needed to work in the centres”.

The Attorney-General, Yvette D’Ath, said Queensland’s pro­tection watchdog had “acted ­appropriately”.

“After being briefed by my department on the shocking case involving dozens of child abuse allegations, I’m advised our Blue Card Services acted appropriately,” she said.

“Queensland’s Blue Card system is one of if not the most stringent in the nation.”

Ms D’Ath said the man’s working with children approval was suspended and employers alerted the day Blue Card Services was notified by the AFP of the alleged disqualifying offences.

The efforts of the AFP, and NSW and Queensland police were applauded by NSW Premier Chris Minns, who went on to call for a tightening of loopholes in relation to working with children checks, including better communication and information sharing between state and territory jurisdictions.

“It would be an unimaginable job to go through this investigation,” he said.

“And the fact that their vigilance, their dedication, their caring and their empathy for victims is what drives them to this public service is so important for law enforcement and the protection of children.

“We owe you a huge debt of gratitude and we thank you for your service.”

Queensland’s Child Safety Minister Craig Crawford supported Mr Minns’s calls.