Man who downloaded 37,000 child porn images says he did not view them, asks not to be jailed.

The lawyer for a Hobart man who downloaded 37,000 child pornography images has called for him to be spared a prison term.

Antony Brown, formerly of Brighton, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart to accessing and possessing the images between December 2012 and March 2015.

His lawyer Chris Gunson SC told the court the 68-year-old kept the hard drive in a cupboard for two and a half years and did not view the images.

Mr Gunson said his client was not part of a child exploitation group, and had been searching for adult pornography when he found the material online.

“Mr Brown was not just searching for child pornography … it came about by accident and then it was curiosity,” he said.

“He was not – for want of a better phrase – part of a paedophile ring … [and] it’s not suggested he took any steps to groom children of any age or was part of any chat rooms.”

Mr Gunson said it would be an imposition for the court to impose a prison term on his client, who was a UK citizen and would likely be forced to return there after he was sentenced.

“The consequences for someone who moved to Australia at 13, who’s lived almost his whole life as an Australian … to return to the United Kingdom will be an extraordinarily disruptive punishment to himself and his family,” he said.

“It will require Mr Brown to effectively start his life again.”

But Justice Michael Brett said although there were few images, some of them were of the worst category, involving the abuse of at least one infant, and it was in part irrelevant that Brown had not gone on to view the abuse.

“I would regard possession of those matters as a significantly aggravating factor,” Justice Brett said.

“Because of the market, it creates associated objectives … it traces back to the exploitation of the child in the first place.

“It makes possession and access of that one item a serious matter.”

Mr Gunson told the court it was “a real sign of remorse” that Brown had taken voluntary steps to relocate back to the UK and avoid the cost of official deportation to taxpayers.

But Prosecutor Jackie Hartnett said moving to the other side of the world would allow Brown to “save face” and should not be viewed as a mitigating factor.

“When you start afresh in the UK, you’re not the person found with child exploitation material, you’re the new man on the block,” she said.

Ms Hartnett said if Brown’s home had been broken into and the hard drive stolen, there was no protection against the images entering the broader market and leading to further exploitation.

He will be sentenced at a date to be set.

This post originally appeared on ABC News. 

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