44-y-o man with serious child porn ordered to do sexual offender program

A man charged with a spine-tingling amount of child porn was released on probation and ordered to complete a sexual offenders treatment program.

The man pleaded guilty before Toowoomba District Court

A 44-YEAR-OLD man caught with almost 300,000 images of children including child pornography has been ordered to undertake a sexual offenders treatment program as part of a sentencing combination of jail time, suspended sentence and a three year probation order.

Laurence James Jennings had already spent two and half years in jail before appearing via video link from Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre to plead guilty before Toowoomba District Court to a range of offences including possessing child exploitation material, indecent treatment of a girl under 12, failing to comply with reporting obligations under the Child Protection Act, and possessing cannabis.

Crown prosecutor Alysha Ballantyne told the court the offences dated to when Jennings was 38, 40 and 41-years-of-age.

One of the offences related to him indecently touching a six or seven-year-old girl who had been sleeping on a mattress with him at her family home to which Jennings had been a guest, she said.

On another occasion, the same girl had woken in her bed to see Jennings entering her room before he pulled down her pants and photographed her genital area.

It had been when he was being spoken to about failing to notify authorities about a mobile phone and email account he had set up in December 2018 when he told officers of having child exploitation material in a bag at the home where he was staying.

Ms Ballantyne said those 296,422 images included 4687 considered to be in the serious category of child exploitation material with 550 category four images and 130 category five which were considered the most serious of images and included sadism and bestiality.

Of 3174 videos found, 1768 were considered category four and 209 category five, she said.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC said it was important Jennings was under supervision upon release.

Jennings was sentenced to the 781 days he had already served plus another 22 months which were suspended for five years and he was placed on three years probation to include the sexual offenders treatment program.