A Shoalhaven man found with hundreds of images and videos of child abuse on his mobile phone, some of which he allegedly uploaded to social media, came to the attention of police after trying to solicit intimate pictures from a 10-year-old girl in the UK, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Court documents said police received information from an overseas source that someone using a Facebook Messenger account under the name Dylan Ward had contacted the girl requesting explicit images of her.
The girl responded "no, you weirdo" and the matter was reported to police.
Meanwhile, around the same time, the Australian Federal Police received multiple reports from the National Centre of Missing and Exploited Children that a social media user had been uploading child abuse material to Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Officers allegedly linked Ward to the crimes by matching the IP address from his phone to that used to upload the images.
Nowra detectives attended Ward's Callala Bay home on May 20 in relation to both matters.
Ward allegedly claimed his Facebook Messenger account had been hacked when asked about the messages to the girl.
Officers then seized Ward's phone, asking if there was anything on there of concern.
"I don't know," he replied.
A subsequent forensic analysis of the phone revealed a plethora of child pornography including videos and images falling into the most extreme category of abuse.
Ward was arrested this week and charged with one count each of possessing and disseminating child abuse material and two counts of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material.
In court on Wednesday, defence lawyer Kirby Hill applied for bail on Ward's behalf, saying he had a limited criminal record and would be vulnerable in custody because of his autism and mental health problems.
Magistrate Claire Girotto agreed to release Ward on strict bail which includes a condition banning him from accessing the internet.
The matter will return to court on June 15.