A paedophile who hoarded more than 280,000 child abuse files along with thousands of books, gemstones and vinyl records, has been sentenced to almost 10 years behind bars.
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A judge found Michael Stanley Cooper's depraved compulsion in "collecting, sorting and catergorising" child abuse material was "causally linked" to an autism diagnosis.
"The attractiveness of collecting and organising the material has been contributed to by his disability," Justice David Mossop said when handing down Cooper's sentence on Monday.
Cooper, 66, was sentenced to more than nine-years-and-eight-months behind bars with a back-dated non-parole period of five-years-and-seven-months.
He previously pleaded guilty to nine charges including possessing and accessing child abuse material, soliciting child abuse material, and failing to report as a registered sex offender.
Last year he was found with more than 280,000 images and videos showing child abuse material, including more than 76,000 unique files depicting at least 1250 victims.
Cooper was well-known to police, having previously amassed the largest number of child abuse files ever seized in the ACT.
In 2010 Cooper was found with almost 700,000 child abuse files, and sentenced to periodic detention that was suspended in 2012.
However, by 2014 he was re-offending and spent the next several years hoarding more abuse files.
On Monday, Justice Mossop said Cooper "appears to have worked briefly for the ACT government" after this first conviction.
The court heard Cooper had completed an apprenticeship as a radio technician, and also spent a period repairing poker machines.
Agreed facts for Cooper's latest crimes state he used a peer-to-peer online encrypted messaging application to share and download child abuse material with other users on various "boards", using the usernames "Tantalum" and "Blank Frank".
A police search warrant of Cooper's Amaroo home in February 2023 uncovered USBs, computers and external hard drives that contained child abuse material, including about 350 CDs hidden in wooden speakers.
The devices contained "highly structured" folders and sub-folders organised by "series" and "model", with the abuse material showing children aged from about three years old to mid-teens.
On Monday, Justice Mossop said the paedophile had "very few friends" and no romantic relationships.
"Because of the autism and the lack of interest in relationships with other people, there is low risk of him acting on his paedophilic interests," he stated.
Speaking directly to Cooper, the judge said: "If you do commit further offences you are liable to have your parole revoked, and spend more time in custody for those further offences."
Cooper will be eligible for parole in October 2028.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
