Source : Perth Now news
Already serving life behind bars in Queensland, convicted child abuser Ashley Paul Griffith has now been moved to NSW to face hundreds more charges over alleged offences against children.
Queensland Corrective Services transported Griffith from Wolston Correctional Centre and handed him to Corrective Services NSW at Tweed Heads on Wednesday morning after the extradition was approved earlier this month.
In a rare move, Queensland Corrective Services released stunning video showing him being escorted out of the prison and into a prison transport vehicle.
The footage shows Griffith in a green jacket, black skinny jeans with holes at the knees and black shoes before he stands to be handcuffed.
Another segment shows him in full prison greens pushing a trolley as officers escort him to the van, with the video also panning inside the cramped compartment where he sat for the journey.
Griffith, a former childcare worker, is already serving a life sentence with a 27-year non-parole period after pleading guilty in Queensland in 2024 to 307 offences involving 69 girls at early learning centres in Brisbane and in Pisa, Italy.
He will now face court in NSW over another 202 charges linked to children.
Those charges include sexual intercourse with a child under 10, indecent assault of a person under 16 and producing child abuse material.
He will remain in custody in NSW while that case moves through the courts.
Under current arrangements, he is expected to serve the balance of his sentence in whichever state ultimately imposes the longer term.
The Queensland case exposed offending that stretched across almost two decades, from 2003 to 2022, and involved children who were mostly aged between three and five.
Griffith used his work in childcare settings to gain access to young victims and recorded abuse material while employed.
His arrest in 2022 came after a major investigation by the Australian Federal Police and Queensland police into child abuse material being circulated on the dark web.
The scale of what investigators uncovered shocked even experienced officers, with prosecutors later describing the case as among the worst of its kind seen in the country.
When Griffith was sentenced in Brisbane, Judge Paul Smith imposed the maximum penalty of life imprisonment and set a 27-year non-parole period, meaning Griffith cannot apply for parole until 2049.
The court was told his crimes involved a profound breach of trust against very young children placed in his care.
The NSW matter centres on a separate group of alleged offences, understood to relate to the years Griffith worked in Sydney childcare settings before moving north.
Griffith is yet to enter a plea to the charges he is facing in NSW.
