Wollongong convicted sex offender released over allegedly accessing child abuse material

Paul Mckenzie George Ferguson, 62, was granted bail on Friday due to his medical conditions given his increased risk of being held on remand while COVID-19 spreads through some NSW jails.

Ferguson was sentenced for possessing child abuse material in 2019 and was registered on the Child Protection Register.

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Documents tendered to court said police went to Ferguson's room at a motel in the region on Tuesday about 11.30am to see if he was complying with conditions of the register.

Ferguson opened the door and police entered the dark room, that was neat and tidy except for some unfolded clothes, before they noticed he was holding a black mobile phone.

Police examined the phone, which had no pin code, and Ferguson had been looking at YouTube.

Upon closer inspection of the File Manager app, the officers allegedly found a downloaded folder called "Little Girl O" from August 9 this year.

The officers were unable to view the folder but seized the phone, suspecting the file, given its title, could be child abuse material.

Ferguson allegedly told officer, "well I can't remember" when asked about the content of the file but confirmed he was the only person who used the phone.

Ferguson allegedly said he had memory issues and told police he could not remember if had been charged with being in possession of child abuse material.

Police seized the phone before leaving.

The contents of the phone were downloaded on September 2 and 671 images were found.

Police allege a "large portion" of the images were classified as child abuse material.

Officers went back to Ferguson's motel room that afternoon where he was arrested before he was taken to Wollongong Police Station and charged with using a carriage service to access child abuse material.

During a police interview, Ferguson allegedly admitted to accessing and downloading child abuse material on his phone via the internet and later frequently deleting the files.

He allegedly told police he "gets urges that he can not control and that he has been accessing child abuse images for many months," the documents said.

Magistrate Gabriel Fleming granted Ferguson bail due to his age, medical and mental health conditions and limited criminal record, despite it being a "very serious matter".

He must live at the motel, and is prohibited from accessing the internet on any device including a mobile phone.

Magistrate Fleming told Ferguson to expect to be visited by police to ensure he was not on the internet.

The case will return to court in November.

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