Hutt Valley 'Rocketguy' jailed

A 40-year-old Lower Hutt man was today jailed for two years and four months for possessing pictures and movies of children being sexually abused after a German police tip-off.

Dean Cooper, 40, unemployed of Fairfield, pleaded guilty to 16 representative charges of possessing objectionable publications. It was his second conviction on such offences. He was caught by Internal Affairs censorship inspectors in 1999 trading child sexual abuses images on the Internet, fined $5000 and forfeited his computer.

Internal Affairs Deputy Secretary, Keith Manch, said Cooper, a former president of the Hutt Valley Rocketry Club, operated on the Internet as "Rocketguy" and records showed he visited a forum named "Babyboys". His laptop and hard drives revealed that since at least 2003 he had downloaded pictures of young boys being sexually abused. There were also movies of young girls being sexually abused.

Cooper had a variety of 'boy love' type sites saved on his system and he had also visited child sexual abuse story sites. He also accessed chat channels to pursue discussions with young boys.

"This is the second time in a week that the courts have jailed an offender for possessing child sex abuse pictures," Keith Manch said. "Last week a Hamilton man was sent to prison for two years on possession charges.

"Having been caught previously Cooper must have known the risks he ran by continuing to operate on the Internet. We cast our net wide through Interpol and other agencies to crack down on this trade."

ENDS

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