A computer technician who admitted sharing pictures of young children with an international porn trading ring is living in Havelock North.
Ian Mead, 47, bought a computer retail and repair shop at Raumati Beach in 2004 and used it to stock a portfolio which included more than 100,000 graphic images, Porirua
District Court was told yesterday.
He admitted searching customers' computer hard drives and copying images of naked children and pregnant women to share with an international porn trading ring.
He received bail again yesterday and will be living in a property close to Te Mata School, Havelock North Intermediate and Havelock North High School, until he is sentenced at the end of March. It was at that home where he was last arrested, after breaching an earlier bail condition not to associate with children under 16, apart from his own two children.
He was initially arrested at Auckland International Airport in November.
During a raid, police found two computer hard drives with images stored under labels such as pre-teen, zero to two-year toddler, and three to five-year Asian. Photographs ranged from naked children to hardcore porn including rape and sexual violation, and bestiality involving children.
Many were innocent naked pictures of children, apparently taken by customers while on family holidays.
Mead pleaded guilty to dozens of representative charges over his offending.
His lawyer Gary Turkington indicated he would seek a sentence of home detention when he appears in Wellington District Court again on March 26.
Police said some of the families affected by Mead's actions had been tracked but others were unaware of what happened.
