‘Alarmingly depraved’: Hobart pedophile jailed over huge collection of disturbing material

“I would stress to you the evil nature of the conduct.” A judge has delivered chilling final words while jailing a Hobart pedophile sprung with a huge collective of depraved material.

Hobart man Christopher Patrick Farrell will spend at least four years in jail after he was sprung with a large collective of "extremely depraved" child abuse material files. Picture: Facebook

A Hobart pedophile who was stung with a huge collection of “alarmingly depraved” and violent child exploitation material will spend at least four years in jail.

Police swooped on the home of Christopher Patrick Farrell in 2022 as part of a nationwide, internet child abuse material sting.

The Australian Federal Police-led “Operation Arkstone” aimed to uncover a huge, national “predatory network” of perpetrators who took videos and photos of themselves abusing children, then swapped the material on social media platforms.

Farrell, now 32, was found with more than 1212 child abuse files, including depraved images and videos including the rape of infants by adults, bestiality and serious sexual violence against children.

In his collection was the particularly disturbing picture of a 15-year-old girl being mutilated with a knife, then shot in the torso.

Christopher Patrick Farrell after a previous hearing outside the Hobart Magistrate Court. Picture: Amber Wilson

Farrell pleaded guilty to 11 Commonwealth counts of using a carriage service to access, possess, transmit, solicit and cause child abuse material to be transmitted to himself, plus two summary charges, including the possession of bestiality material.

He committed the crimes over a six-year period, starting in March 2017, and continued to reoffend while on bail until March last year.

While sentencing on Wednesday in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Acting Justice David Porter said Farrell was actively engaged in trading material online, sending files to other people and asking for material in return – including of them abusing their own children.

He would meet other predators in chat groups, redirecting them to other platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp to “maintain secrecy”.

He also engaged in “highly depraved” conversations with other people online, often while under the influence of the drug ice, and on topics including rape, incest, and preying on “special needs kids” or homeless children.

He said Farrell had told police he initially didn’t prefer material where children were being harmed, but preferred material “where children were playing”.

Farrell said by sharing the material, he wanted to impress people on the internet “and have his ego stroked”.

Acting Justice Porter said Farrell’s offending began after he was introduced to the drug ice, with a friend injecting him and then proceeding to play child exploitation videos.

He said Farrell himself had been subjected to child sexual abuse as a child, and numerous rapes as an adult.

Hundreds of charges were laid in the national, Australian Federal Police-led “Operation Arkstone”.

Farrell has been diagnosed with “paraphilia”, non-exclusive pedophilic disorder – meaning he is also attracted to adults – and with substance abuse disorders.

However, the judge said Farrell was still “fully aware of what he was doing and that it was wrong”.

“To a very large extent, the material was of extreme depravity,” he said.

“These are not victimless crimes. The production of such material involves the exploitation and abuse of children somewhere in the world.

“I would stress to you the evil nature of the conduct in which you have engaged.”

Farrell, who has been in custody since April 2023, was sentenced to seven years’ jail, with a non-parole period of four years.

His name will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.

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