"Cyber pervert" Garry Francis Newman used fake online personas to lure and ultimately murder South Australian teenager Carly Ryan in 2007.
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The level of manipulation he used to deceive Carly and her family was both chilling and horrendous.
Then 47, Newman pretended to be an 18-year-old guitarist called Brandon Kane. "Brandon" and Carly formed a relationship based on phone calls and internet contact over a year and a half.
Newman also pretended to be Brandon's father, Shane, in an attempt to ingratiate himself further with Carly and her family.
"Shane" aka Newman did eventually meet Carly and when she rejected his advances, he planned his revenge, luring her to an isolated beach in Port Elliott. Newman bashed her, tried to suffocate her in the sand and threw her in the water to drown. She was 15 and had the terrible distinction of being the first person in Australia killed by an online predator.
In 2010, Newman was sentenced to life with a 29-year non-parole period. The judge said he was sexually obsessed with Carly and had committed a "terribly cruel" crime against a "beautiful, impressionable 15-year-old child".
Her mother, Sonya Ryan, has started the Carly Ryan Foundation in her daughter's honour to help parents protect their children against online predators.
Ms Ryan is at the Royal Canberra Show this weekend with a team from the Australian Federal Police, hoping to leave a serious message with families otherwise enjoying the festivities.
And that message is parents must take an active role in protecting their children from online predators.
"Don't just trust your kids," Ms Ryan said. "Trusting them is not enough because young people cannot be prepared for a criminal and the lengths they will go to to manipulate and deceive to take advantage of their victims."
The foundation has resources for show patrons including a safety app and a "Family Online Safety Contract" which parents and children both sign. The contract commits children to certain actions including that they will never share information with someone online if they don't know them offline.
"The idea is to sit down as a family, go through the contract and show there are consequences to sharing inappropriate material online," Ms Ryan said.
"Kids need to be responsible digital citizens and understand everything they put online can affect their future and their future opportunities."
Mums and dads needed to do their bit – and more.
"Parents who are quite daunted by technology need to get online and search. What is Snapchat? What is Instagram? Facebook? Kik Messenger? Go through one app at a time and try not be overwhelmed. This is the way our kids are communicating and it's really important to empower yourself with knowledge and have those conversations with your kids."
Ms Ryan said when Carly was alive they kept their computer in the kitchen.
"I believed she was just talking to a young boy," she said.
"[Newman] was talking to all her friends as well. He was operating over 200 fake profiles to lure kids, creating friends for Brandon as well. His entire existence was deception."
The desire to help other families and protect other children gave her some solace.
"I think it's the love connection with my daughter which allows me to do this work," she said.
Ms Ryan has the music from her daughter's favourite song – Beating Heart Baby by Head Automatica – tattooed on her arm to remember her energy and innocence.
"She used to put it on and say, 'Mum stop cleaning and come and dance with me'."
The Australian Federal Police's manager of victim-based crime, Commander Glen McEwen, said the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation believed there were more than 750,000 child sex predators online at any one time.
"We see offenders operating across the internet – in chat rooms, on social media, through the online gaming environment and on peer-to-peer platforms," he said.
"Possible signs that a child might be being groomed online include excessive use of the computer, aggression around computer usage, secretive behaviour, change in the use of sexual language, unexplained gifts or cash and finding pornography on the computer."
In the past five years, the AFP has made more than 400 arrests or court summonses in relation to more than 1000 online child sex exploitation charges Australia-wide.
"It's critical parents, carers and teachers, and children, are aware of both the benefits and risks of engaging online," Commander McEwen said."That's why we've also partnered with The Carly Ryan Foundation, to do all we can to keep our children safe from harm."
*Representatives from the Australian Federal Police, Carly Ryan Foundation and Daniel Morcombe Foundation will be in the Budawang Pavilion at the Royal Australian Show at Exhibition Park in Canberra on Friday, Saturday and Sunday offering information on how to keep children safe and on raising awareness of missing persons..
