Australian author Craig Silvey sentenced to seven months jail after ‘betraying readers’

Warning: this story contains details that some readers may find distressing. Disgraced Australian author Craig Silvey has been sentenced to seven months jail after a court heard he had betrayed thousands of people when he engaged witn anonymous online accounts, claiming he “loved” incestuous child pornography and the “perfect age” of a child was eight-years-old. Disgraced West Australian author Craig Silvey arrives at Perth District Court for sentencing on child sex abuse material charges on Monday, November 2.9News PerthSilvey, 44, appeared in WA’s District Court on Monday for sentencing on two charges of possessing and distributing child exploitation material. Judge Karen Shepherd sentenced him to seven months jail, backdated to October 22 when he first went into custody. He shared one image of child pornography in the chat, and spoke to the user – telling them while he didn’t own the image, he was “drooling”. Over the next few days they continued to speak. “I love love love love mums being intimate with little boys, I think it’s the sexiest and most beautiful thing in the world,” Silvey wrote. “To answer your question I would range [age] five plus. “I had a great collection [of material] and then I panicked and deleted it and regret it every day.” He went on to say a child aged eight was “the perfect age”, and he would ask other users for child exploitation material. Prosecutor Daniel Harrop said Silvey had the chats open on his computer when the police executed a search warrant at the Fremantle property this year. He then refused to provide access to his devices to detectives. Judge Shepherd said his offending had been “extremely serious and extremely disturbing”. She said she ultimately accepted Silvey had a sexual interest in children. “The material you possessed [and the chat logs] they are repulsive, they are degrading and they are offensive,” Shepherd said. “Your communication was open, it was assertive and it was unmistakable. “You did this as a means to engage others and sexually satisfy yourself and to sexually satisfy the person with which you were discussing.“ Silvey’s defence lawyer Eloise Barker previously argued he was interested in child exploitation material rather than children themselves. However, Harrop rejected the psychological report and said it as a character reference than a court report on Silvey’s mental health. He said the psychologist had offered heavily discounted sessions and had not read the chat logs, which contained most of the material that indicated Silvey was “particularly” sexually interested in young boys and often initiated conversation.