Ashley Paul Griffith: the Gold Coast childcare worker alleged to be Australia’s worst pedophile

The Australian can identify Ashley Paul Griffith as the 45-year-old former childcare worker who stands accused of 1623 charges relating to the abuse of 91 little girls over 15 years.

Until now, Ashley Paul Griffith has remained anonymous since his arrest by the Australian Federal Police in August 2022.

This is the face of the childcare worker alleged to be Australia’s worst pedophile.

Ashley Paul Griffith can be identified for the first time under new Queensland laws that allow alleged sex offenders to be named before they are committed to stand trial.

The 45-year-old former childcare worker stands accused of 1623 charges relating to the abuse of 91 little girls over a 15-year period in a dozen centres spanning states and continents.

The Australian could reveal his identity as of 12.01am on Tuesday when new laws came into effect to “modernise” the reporting of such offences and hold perpetrators to account, with media now able to name those accused in a slew of cases before the courts.

Ashley Paul Griffith.

However, other accused serious sex offenders, including a high-profile Australian man and two reality show contestants, can still not be named due to court-issued suppression orders that override the legislative changes.

Griffith has remained anonymous since his arrest by the Australian Federal Police in August 2022. The case was made public by the AFP a year later in August after more than 1000 child exploitation charges were laid against him for offences at 10 centres in Brisbane, one in Sydney’s inner-west and another in Pisa, Italy between 2007 and 2022.

It followed an eight-year-long investigation that had allegedly connected the Gold Coast man to child abuse material posted online in 2014, AFP officers said while announcing his arrest eight weeks ago.

Court documents viewed by The Australian allege he systematically recorded each assault and rape on phones and cameras, keeping meticulous files of each of his victims. The charges revealed a pattern of escalating offending, with two little girls at one centre raped more than two dozen times each over several months.

Prior to his arrest, Griffith worked as a director of a childcare centre on Brisbane’s northside. In a since-deleted staff profile on the childcare centre’s website that has been viewed archived online, Griffith said he was a “firm believer in play-based learning”.

“I love engaging children in meaningful experiences that inspire their play and learning,” he said.

“Young children are natural inquirers, exploring the world through their senses, seeking answers and building theories. As an Early Childhood Teacher I hope to share this journey, learning side-by-side children and inspiring them.”

The first known alleged offences took place at a Brisbane centre in 2007 and continued until Griffith moved to Pisa, Italy in 2013, to work at an international school. He moved back to Australia in 2014, settling in Sydney’s inner-west and working at the same centre until 2017. He returned to Brisbane for family reasons in 2018, according to his staff profile.

It was while working in Europe that police allege he posted abuse material to an online forum, with 27 charges laid for the distribution of child pornography outside of Australia between October 2013 and June 2014.

The AFP said families attending the affected locations had been notified prior to the arrest being made public.

Griffith had previously been investigated by Queensland Police on two occasions in 2021 and again in 2022, but no charges were laid despite a former colleague alleging she had seen him kissing a child.

His blue card which allowed him to work with children was unaffected as a result, with court documents revealing he had allegedly continued to offend up until two months before his arrest.

The changes to Queensland laws to publicly name adults charged with rape and other prescribed sexual offences before they are committed to stand trial were passed in September.

The move was born from the landmark Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce to bring Queensland more in line with the rest of the country.

Previously, media could not name accused persons until after they were committed to trial, due to concerns over “reputational damage” caused if somebody maliciously made up complaints.

Griffith is due to appear in court again on November 6.