Man jailed for child sexual abuse images

A 54-year-old Wellington man, Peter John Wrigley, will spend six years and six months in jail for trading and possessing child sexual abuse images and indecent assault.

He had over 124,000 images and videos on file, and had produced several images himself. Most of the images he held were of children under 10-years-old being sexually abused, some children as young as one-year-old.

Wrigley was today prosecuted by Customs on 42 “representative” charges for importing, exporting and possessing child sexual abuse images, and by Police on 4 “representative” charges for indecency and indecent assault, after two New Zealand victims were identified.
He received two years and six months on Customs charges and four years on Police charges, which are to be served consecutively.

On 28 August 2014, Wrigley was questioned and searched by Customs officers at Auckland Airport on arrival from China. Further examination and forensic analysis of his electronic devices showed he had over 73,500 images of child sexual abuse.

Customs investigators executed a search warrant, taking more laptops, hard drives, a video camera and discs, as well as books on “child photography”, photos and A4 printouts. He was arrested after an interview, during which he admitted taking several objectionable images himself.

Customs Manager Maurice O’Brien says this prosecution is the result of Customs profiling risk passengers at international airports who could be carrying objectionable images or prohibited goods.

“Customs is focussed on identifying and catching such offenders, and we will continue to work closely with our Police and Internal Affairs colleagues, as well as overseas agencies to combat this crime.

“Child sexual abuse imagery is not pornography – there is a distinct difference. Many of these images are horrific and beyond the imagination of most people. Every image Mr Wrigley had in his possession shows a real child victim being sexually abused.”

Detective Crystal Smith, Officer in Charge of the Police investigation, says each and every image represents harm to children.

“Our investigation identified two children in New Zealand who were victims of his offending. Police will continue to use a joint approach with other agencies to uncover child sex offenders, hold them to account and most importantly, deny them further opportunities to harm more victims."

-ends-

© Scoop Media