A former Victoria Police senior constable has been charged after he was allegedly caught with 168 hours of sickening child sexual abuse footage.
Alan Hawley, 49, was hit with 110 criminal charges after he was allegedly found to possess 19,856 images and videos of child abuse across six devices.
The former senior constable fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court late last year where he indicated he would plead guilty to child abuse charges.
Court documents obtained by the Herald Sun allege nearly half of the files depicted real children under the age of 13, while more than half were teenagers.
A large number of ‘computer-generated’ child abuse material was also allegedly located on the devices, including two phones, three USBs and an SD card.
The combined ‘playing time’ of the footage amounted to more than 168 hours of children being ‘sexually exploited/abused’, the documents state.
It’s understood Hawley retired from the force after he was arrested last January.
He had been a senior constable working as a leading crime scene officer at the Sunshine Police Station in Melbourne’s west and had spent 11 years as a cop.
Alan Hawley, 49, was hit with 110 criminal charges after he was allegedly found to possess 19,856 images and videos of child abuse across six devices (stock image)
Hawley had been at home with his wife when police arrived to raid the property, court documents state.
‘Do you know why we are here?’ the officers asked him.
‘Yep. Child exploitation,’ he replied.
Victoria’s anti-child exploitation team was first alerted to Hawley in December 2022 when it received information he was uploading child abuse material via Google and instant messaging app KiK with an email address containing his name.
An iPhone located at his home allegedly contained a large amount of child abuse material in his photo gallery as well as in chats where files had been shared.
Hawley’s work locker was searched, where a Samsung mobile was located.
The former senior constable fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court (pictured) late last year where he indicated he would plead guilty to the charges
He was charged with 34 counts of producing child abuse material, 36 counts of transmitting child abuse material, 22 counts of using a carriage service to cause offence and six counts of possessing child abuse material, among other charges.
In December, Hawley told Magistrate Belinda Wallington he intends to plead guilty when he fronts Victoria’s County Court.
The former cop will now enter negotiations with prosecutors to determine which of the 110 charges he will plead guilty to.
Hawley requested his name be suppressed in media reporting, citing his family’s mental health, but was denied by the magistrate.
He is next scheduled to appear in County Court on February 1.