Heath Graham Williams pleaded guilty to accessing child material

A cleaner who was found with more than 1400 child abuse material files on his phone was also soliciting photos from a 16-year-old on Instagram.

Child exploitation material was found on a Hervey Bay man’s phone.

A cleaner who accessed hundreds of child abuse images on his phone also solicited images from a 16-year-old boy using Instagram, a court has been told.

Heath Graham Williams, 37, pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child abuse material, using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material, using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material to self and possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service when he faced the Hervey Bay District Court on Thursday.

The court heard on June 8 last year, police had conducted a search warrant at Williams’ home.

Police examined his mobile and found child abuse material, the court was told.

He had accessed multiple websites using his phone on 131 occasions between March 17 and May 29 last year to view child abuse material.

Williams was also communicating with a 16-year-old on Instagram, the court heard, in which he solicited child abuse material and caused child abuse material to be transmitted to himself.

Williams had possessed 1411 files on his mobile phone which contained child abuse material.

Of those files, 424 of those files were category one, the most serious type, and 987 were category two files.

Williams, a father of two, had no prior criminal history, the court was told.

The court heard Williams had previously been involved in a de facto relationship and he shared two children with his former partner.

He had a new partner and his mother, who was in court for his appearance, was also supportive of him.

Williams had worked as a cleaner for a company in Hervey Bay, the court heard, and had suffered from anxiety and depression.

He had engaged in counselling sessions with a psychologist since his arrest, the court was told.

Judge Michael Burnett described the messages between Williams and the 16-year-old boy on Instagram as “highly sexualised”.

“It involved a disgusting and offensive exchange over an extended period of time between yourself and this young person,” he said.

Williams had directed the child to perform sexual acts and to send photos and videos to him, Judge Burnett said.

Judge Burnett said Williams had viewed child exploitation material on multiple websites over a period of about two months.

The images depicted both male and female children from toddlers to 15 years old participating in “sexualised posing” to actual penetration, he said.

There had also been an incest theme involved in a number of the searches, Judge Burnett said.

Judge Burnett sentenced Williams to a total of 18 months in prison.

Williams would be released after four months on a $1000 good behaviour bond, which would be in place for three years and he would also be under the supervision of a probation officer.

‘Enough is enough’: Community gathers for vigil

Man flown to hospital following horror crash

Originally published as Heath Graham Williams pleaded guilty to accessing child material