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Paedophile Matthew Douglas Wight-Pickin jailed for ‘the worst’ child sex material after Albany raid

An Albany man has been jailed for indecently dealing with a child and possessing the “worst forms” of child pornography after a tip-off from a US counter-child-abuse organisation. Matthew Douglas Wight-Pickin, 42, appeared in Albany District Court last Thursday and was sentenced to four years and six months behind bars after a jury found him guilty of nine child sex abuse offences. Wight-Pickin was on trial this month charged with five counts of indecently recording a child, two counts of indecently dealing with a child, and two counts of possessing child exploitation material. On March 5 last year, Australian Federal Police officers and child abuse squad officers carried out an early-morning raid at his home in Orana, acting on a referral from the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. On Thursday, the District Court was told Australian authorities were acting on “intelligence” that indicated Wight-Pickin was accessing online child pornography. AFP officers seized two mobile phones, with one of the phones containing 4452 child exploitation files, mostly of “very, very young” girls. Judge Staude said Wight-Pickin’s offending was aggravated by the “utter depravity of the images”, which spanned all five categories of child exploitation material. The phone contained 630 files classed as category four images, which Judge Staude described as “seriously depraved images of penetrative sexual activity by adult males of pre-pubescent female children”. There were 20 images in category five — the worst category — including bestiality and bondage. “The material that I have viewed across the five categories that I have mentioned depicts the worst forms of child sexual abuse and degradation,” he said. The court was told the father of three had been accessing child exploitation material for years and had used the Snapchat and Kik applications to store illicit content. While there was no evidence he had distributed the indecent recordings, Judge Staude said “potential existed”. The other mobile phone contained indecent recordings of a child. Police investigations into his phone data revealed 126 searches for child porn, with 43 illicit websites bookmarked as favourites on his internet browser. Judge Staude said Wight-Pickin denied knowledge of child exploitation material found on the phone and “maintained that the phones could have been accessed by others to download this material or otherwise accessed remotely for this purpose”. He said both explanations were “absurd and contradicted by expert evidence”. During the one-hour sentencing hearing, Wight-Pickin sat in the dock making frequent indistinct remarks, with Judge Staude telling him to “be quiet”. He was later spoken to by security. “Your failure to demonstrate an acceptance of responsibility goes to the weight to be given to personal deterrence and protection of the community,” Judge Staude said. In March last year, at the time of the raid on his home, the Advertiser reported AFP officers seized items including a crossbow. Later that afternoon, a man — now known to be Wight-Pickin — was led out of the house and taken away in an unmarked car. A neighbour told the Advertiser a couple lived there with three children. During sentencing, Judge Staude said video footage of the police raid showed his house in a “dreadful state”. “There was a rat in the bathroom. There were chickens in the kitchen,” Judge Staude said. “The house was a total shambles and not a safe place for children to live in.” At the time, Wight-Pickin was taking dexamphetamine medication for ADHD, as well as growing and using cannabis. A psychiatric report indicated he had not suffered neglect or abuse as a child. While acknowledging Wight-Pickin had “learning difficulties” at school, Judge Staude said he had “no psychiatric disorder or mental condition that would mitigate your offending by reducing your culpability”. Defence lawyer Bruno Illari told the court although prison was the only option, his client would find it “more difficult than the average person” due to his “degree of mental confusion”. Judge Staude said Wight-Pickin’s diagnosed conditions such as ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression were capable of being treated in prison.

exclusivePaedophile Matthew Douglas Wight-Pickin jailed for ‘the worst’ child sex material after Albany raid

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Paedophile Matthew Douglas Wight-Pickin jailed for ‘the worst’ child sex material after Albany raid