Christopher Middleton handed intensive correction order for accessing child abuse material

Christopher Alex Middleton, aged in his early 20s, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday to a three-year intensive correction order.

He had previously pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material and transmitting such material for further offending.

A redacted statement of facts says police searched a Harrison home in November 2021 and gained access to electronic devices containing videos of child abuse.

Middleton also admitted failing to comply with a lawful order to give police a password for a digital account on Mega, an online service providing encrypted cloud storage and sharing of files.

Police found 220 child abuse video files in the account, 51 per cent of which showed prepubescent victims.

Officers also discovered a conversation on the Kik Messenger app between Middleton and another person.

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The facts said the conversation met the definition of child abuse material and "can be best described as the forceful confinement, assault and rape of a 13-year-old female".

On Friday, Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said it was typically "inevitable" that Middleton's offending would result in a term of imprisonment.

However, she spared him a full-time prison term after finding "exceptional circumstances" existed in his case.

The circumstances were the connection between Middleton's offending and his level two autism spectrum disorder.

The court had previously heard from clinical psychologist Tabitha Frew that Middleton's emotional and social development was equivalent to a 14- or 15-year-old at the time of the offending, when he was 20.

Ms Frew recommended to the court that Middleton "should not have access to the open source internet".

During his sentence, the offender will therefore not have access to the internet other than for services like legal advice, medical treatment, personal finances, employment, contact with ACT Corrective Services and to access television and music streaming services.

He is also set to complete 100 hours of community service.

Speaking directly to Middleton after handing down his sentence, Justice Loukas-Karlsson said the offender was fortunate to have the support of his family, many of whom were present on Friday.

"You have begun the process of turning your life around but you must not and you cannot put a foot wrong," she said.

"You must be vigilant every day to be worthy of this opportunity that this court has given you to again be a worthwhile member of this community."

She also reminded him that his crime was not victimless.

"Real children's lives are destroyed for this depraved black hole of the internet," the judge said.

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