Former Adelaide sports umpire jailed for 23 years for online child abuse

A former sports umpire who solicited sexually explicit material from 10 overseas children via social media platforms will serve at least 17 years in prison.

Brett Daniel Allford, 42, of Edwardstown, in Adelaide's southwestern suburbs, had communicated with his victims on Snapchat and Instagram, encouraging them to engage in sexual activity and send explicit images of themselves.

The South Australian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team began investigating in 2022 after the UK's West Mercia Police referred a report of a teenager engaging online with a man suspected to be in South Australia.

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Officers executed a search warrant at Allford's home in October 2022, seizing a phone that contained sexually explicit communications with 10 victims - aged 11 to 16 at the time of the offending - from the United Kingdom and Canada, along with numerous files containing child abuse images.

The former SA Cricket Association and SA National Football League umpire pleaded guilty last December to 14 online child abuse offences.

In the SA District Court on Monday, Judge Paul Muscat said Allford, who was jailed for previous similar offending in 2019, had very little prospect of rehabilitation.

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He had manipulated the victims and taken advantage of their personal circumstances to satisfy his deviant sexual desires, Judge Muscat said.

Allford induced victims to send photos and videos by offering money to spend on clothes or food.

He also used a screenshot recording application to covertly record the girls during intimate phone video chat conversations.

"In exchange for each image or video, you would enable them to purchase food from Uber Eats, or clothing from the online brand Shein, by sending them your banking details and providing a spending limit," Judge Muscat said.

He said children must be protected from sexual predators.

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"Child sex offenders destroy innocence," he said.

The Commissioner for Victims' Rights submitted a community impact statement.

"As the commissioner wrote, we live in a highly connected world where the use of digital technologies are part of our lives. While these technologies have enhanced our lives, they have also dramatically altered the dynamics of child sexual abuse and exploitation," Judge Muscat said.

It is the first conviction in South Australia under mandatory minimum sentencing provisions for commonwealth child sexual abuse offences.

Judge Muscat imposed a head sentence of 23 years, with a non-parole period of 17 years, backdated to Muscat's arrest. He will be eligible for parole in October, 2039.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).