Internal Affairs warns peddlers of child sex abuse images

Internal Affairs has issued a warning to peddlers of child sex abuse images following the jailing of a repeat offender in Auckland yesterday.

Computer technician Stephen John Laing, from Massey, Auckland, was jailed for one year in Waitakere District Court and refused leave to apply for home detention.

Judge Lisa Tremewan added special release conditions including psychological treatment.

Laing pleaded guilty to 33 charges of collecting, advertising and distributing pictures of children aged from two months to 10 years being sexually abused and assaulted by adults.

In 2003 he had been fined, given community work and placed on supervision for two years on 29 charges of distributing, advertising and collecting pictures of babies, toddlers and children being sexually abused by adults.

Internal Affairs deputy secretary Andrew Secker said crime agencies in Canada, the United States and New Zealand spent two years investigating and tracking Laing.

"If you choose to continue, you will eventually be caught," Mr Secker warned others involved in the collection and distribution of such images.

Mr Secker said Laing was a computer professional who did his utmost to hide his offending on the internet.

"He knew all the tricks. He had professional training. He worked hard at keeping his offending secret.

"He also had good knowledge about how we operate because he has previously been convicted on similar charges," he said.

Since the earlier offending, Laing had used various trickery to avoid detection while continuing to use the internet to collect and distribute child sex abuse images.

He had used different internet identities to offer image exchanges , but information from Vancouver police helped Internal Affairs inspectors later confirm the identities were a New Zealander -- eventually found to be Laing.

He was tracked to his Auckland address and his computer was seized and his home searched.

On the computer were 249 pictures of young children, mainly babies, being sexually assaulted.

Analysis also showed a three-year history of extensive use of the internet to collect and distribute child sex abuse images and that several thousand picture files had been deleted.

When interviewed, Laing said sexual abuse of babies interested him because it was "grotesque".

Since Laing's offending, Parliament has amended laws meaning he would today face up to 10 years in jail as opposed to a maximum of the one year he received.

- NZPA