The case of a paedophile found with images of grown men and women having sex with children has been referred to the police again for potentially breaking conditions while on bail, according to the ACT's Health Minister.
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Former senior ACT Health manager Bradley Burch admitted in court he had the pictures and video of very young children and he had distributed child abuse material.
He was sentenced 12 months' jail for transmitting child pornography, but is serving the term in the community rather than behind bars by way of an intensive correction order. As part of the order, Burch would have to complete 200 hours of community service, be assessed for a sex offender program, and give ACT Corrective Services access to his home without notice.
The punishment was on top of a sentence Chief Justice Murrell previously imposed on him for possessing child pornography of a two-year good behaviour order, with 100 hours of community service.
But former colleagues in ACT Health are angry he was still in a work online forum with parents who were exchanging pictures of their children without knowing the charges he faced.
They say that he was out on bail on condition he not go online, a condition he breached.
In the ACT Assembly, Opposition leader Alistair Coe asked the minister: "Did Mr Burch's bail conditions prohibit him from participating in social media activity, and, if so, was he in breach of those conditions when, while still working in ACT Health, he continued to participate in a work-based WhatsApp group, which included the sharing of photographs of children?"
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith replied that "the matter had been referred to ACT Policing".
Liberal MLAs are also concerned that Burch has been allowed to go to his home which is in a brothel in Fyshwick.
An online petition is also running to ask "the Attorney-General for Australia and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to review and appeal Brad Burch a convicted child sex offenders sentence".
At the time of writing, it had 2170 signatures.
Burch's home in Fyshwick was raided in October last year.
Police presented evidence to the court he had had online chats with what appeared to be pre-pubescent children, sometimes calling himself "daddy".
The 35-year-old also had online chats with other paedophiles. One told him she was having sex with a five-year-old child as they spoke, and the pair discussed opening a childcare centre together.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
