A top lawyer who featured in the TV series Underbelly after he helped jail some of Sydney’s most notorious criminals has been charged with child abuse material offices.
Former Crown Prosecutor Paul Leask, 58, was reportedly arrested in a hotel room in Sydney’s CBD on Thursday afternoon in a dramatic n Federal Police (AFP) raid following a tip-off from US authorities.
Police allege they found a hard drive containing more than 300 files depicting child abuse material and a white crystal substance believed to be a prohibited drug, reported the Daily Telegraph.
It is alleged he was sending the material to a person on an app.
Leask was charged with four offences relating to the possession, access and distribution of child abuse material and another of drug possession.
He did not apply for bail on Friday and will next appear in court on March 26.
‘The AFP allegedly identified the man while investigating a report from the United States National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about a user uploading child abuse material online,’ the AFP said in a statement.
‘AFP investigators allegedly linked the Sydney man to the illegal online activity.
‘They executed a search warrant at the man’s hotel room on 30 January, 2025, allegedly finding more than 300 files of child abuse material on electronic devices. The devices will be subject to further forensic examination.
‘Investigators also found a clip-seal bag containing a substance suspected to be methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia.’
Leask, who is now retired and is understood to live in Bali, was one of NSW’s leading crown prosecutors.
He helped jail crime boss Anthony Perish who was sentenced to 24 years in prison over the 2001 murder of drug dealer Terry Falconer.
His body had been chopped up and concealed in six packages before being dumped in the Hastings River.
Leask, who was played by actor Michael Dorman, featured as a character in the fifth season of the Underbelly series, which also starred Jonathan LaPaglia as Perish.
He also helped convict maths tutor Quy Huy Hoang who used his position to sexually abuse five children between 2007 and 2014.
AFP Detective Inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias said the AFP remained committed to protecting children.
‘Anyone who views this material is committing a crime,’ Det-Insp Tsardoulias said.
‘Our message to online offenders has not changed – if you procure, access and transmit child abuse material, you will be found, arrested and prosecuted.
‘This is not a victimless crime. Children are not commodities to be used for the abhorrent gratification of sexual predators.’