Child porn charges after USB drive mislaid

A 34-year-old who mislaid his plug-in USB drive at work is now facing sentence for 10 charges of possessing child pornography.

Scott Stanley Dawson's computer drive was found in the staff changing rooms at the stadium where he worked.

It was handed in and the company checked what was on it, to try to find out who it belonged to.

They found Dawson's CV, as well as images of child abuse.

Girls were shown in sexually explicit poses, and some showed girls as young as three involved in oral sex and having sexual intercourse with adult men.

Dawson appeared in Christchurch District Court today and pleaded guilty to the 10 charges of possessing objectionable material under the Films and Videos Classification Act, Christchurch Court News website reports.

Judge Stephen Erber remanded him on bail for sentencing on October 15.

Police prosecutor Sergeant John Taylor told the court that after the images were found on the USB drive, a warrant was executed on the room at a backpacker hostel where Dawson lived.

A large number of compact disks were found and nine of them contained a significant quantity of similar child abuse images.

Police are seeking a court order to destroy the disks and the USB drive.

- NZPA