Wayne Robert Willing: Man possessed 5400 child exploitation images to ‘research’ if he was a paedophile

A Bunbury man has said the more than 5400 child exploitation images he possessed was to help him determine whether he was a paedophile following convictions of indecently dealing with a child. Wayne Robert Willing, 43, found “no sexual gratification” in the images, his lawyer Zarah Burgess told the Bunbury District Court on Monday, where the man admitted to having the images and trying to destroy any evidence of them while police had his phone. Ms Burgess said while it may sound “somewhat curious” at first, Willing’s explanation for having the images was born out of an obsession with paedophiles to determine whether he fit the mould he was researching. She said Willing had been convicted of indecently dealing with a child — and placed on a conditionally suspended jail term, which the new offending breached — and downloaded the images during a four-day drug-fuelled bender. Willing then saved the images into a password-protected folder connected to a Google account, but on July 20 last year was injured in a car crash with police attending and seizing his phone. A week later, Willing attempted to wipe the phone of the images by requesting a remote factory reset from another device. However, because the phone was in police custody on flight mode and with its sim card removed, the attempt was unsuccessful. Of the more than 5400 images, 1000 were analysed. Of those, 815 were classed as the most serious category one images depicting young children being sexually abused, while the others were found to be category two materials showing teenagers being exploited. The possession charge and one count of attempting to destroy evidence breached the suspended jail term, which the court was told Willing had been complying with, outside of having the images. That 12-month order would have expired in February, with the new offending occurring five months after he was placed on the nine-month term. Ms Burgess said her client apologised to those in the court process who had to view the images in a letter to the judge, which the State prosecutor said also included Willing saying he was “no longer a danger to the community”. The prosecutor said the judge should take that comment “with a grain of salt”. During the sentencing, the judge told the court he did not accept Willing had no sexual interest in the content, and did not accept the submission it was “research to understand whether he had a sexual interest” in children. The judge said he had the “unfortunate duty” of having to view some of the images, which he said he would not describe to save the court transcribers the job of having to detail the material. “The harm that is actually caused in the background in this case is incalculable,” he said. The judge said although Willing had undertaken some counselling, the explanation detracted from his level of remorse. Willing was sentenced to three years behind bars for the new charges and the indecent dealing of a child matter, with the term backdated to August 4 last year. He was made eligible for parole after serving half that time, making his earliest release date February 4, 2025. Willing will continue to be a reportable offender.