Ex-St John manager guilty of child porn charges

A former Rotorua St John Ambulance area manager has admitted possessing child pornography.

Robin Andrew, 61, appeared in Rotorua District Court yesterday and pleaded to 13 charges of possessing objectionable material.

The Daily Post reported today that police considered the images found at Andrew's home to be of the worst type of pornography available.

He had a large library of 550 compact discs and DVDs of mainly child pornography and images of bestiality – 71,788 images. Stories of paedophilia and incest were also found stored on his computers and discs.

Pictures and videos featured children aged from one to about 12, some being sexually abused. Material was labelled "teen" and "adult".

Andrew appeared before Justices of the Peace Ron Hope and Ralph de Raat when his lawyer Bill Lawson entered guilty pleas on his behalf.

The court was told New Zealand police received information in January from Brazilian police regarding a computer file sharing programme called "eMule". Links were found to files containing graphic images of child abuse. A list of users' addresses for the period July 1-12, 2007, led police to Andrew.

Andrew was remanded on bail until sentencing on November 28. The court asked for a pre-sentence and home detention report.

- NZPA