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In a shocking twist, Australia’s youngest convicted murderer has found himself back behind bars, a consequence of his own hubristic claim that authorities would never discover the contents of his phone. This bold assertion led to his re-arrest, unraveling his involvement in downloading sexually violent images and child abuse material.
The individual, legally referred to as SLD, became infamous for a heinous crime committed at the tender age of 13. In 2001, he abducted and brutally murdered his three-year-old neighbor, Courtney Morley-Clarke, on the New South Wales Central Coast. This act set the course for SLD’s life, with nearly two-thirds of it spent in incarceration.
Released in 2023, SLD was placed under stringent conditions designed to safeguard the community and aid in his reintegration. These limitations were stringently monitored by community corrections officers, who were responsible for overseeing his compliance.
However, it was during a routine visit to an Optus store on March 20 of the previous year that SLD openly admitted to flouting these restrictions. His overconfidence was apparent as he taunted the supervising officers, challenging them with the words, “Good luck finding anything I do on the phone.”
“Good luck finding anything I do on the phone,” he said during a supervised visit to an Optus shop.
On two occasions about a week later, he bragged about being able to delete his internet activity, using the dark web and wanting to access dating sites so he could lose his virginity.
These details come from court documents seen by AAP on yesterday after the now 39-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of breaching his supervisory orders and two charges relating to child abuse material.
While free in the community, he had been barred from using social networking services or dating sites without prior approval.
He was also only permitted to view sexually explicit material on a single pornographic website, but was told not to watch anything involving sexual violence or cruelty towards women or children.
During a subsequent review of his phone, NSW Police found he had breached these conditions.
He was then arrested last April.
Examining his phone, officers found one image of a five-year-old girl naked from the waist down.
They also located 43 images downloaded onto his device showing women in sexually violent situations including being tied up, looking scared or in pain, and having hands placed over their mouths.
One image was titled “the raped virgin”, court documents reveal.
The killer also searched for sexually violent material online, including viewing one video claiming to be of a drugged woman raped in a hotel.
He tried to look for child abuse material by searching for terms like “real child rape” on explicit websites.
He further breached his supervisory conditions by using a fake name to create a Facebook profile and chat with members of the public.
The 39-year-old will be sentenced at Campbelltown District Court next month.
He has already been convicted of a separate breach of his conditions when he approached a mother and her partially undressed child at a beach in Wollongong in October 2023.
He was handed an 18-month jail term and was released last March, weeks before his latest arrest.
The killer has tried to overturn his conviction for that matter in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal with a judgment due on today.
He only recently offered a motive for murdering Courtney: to exact revenge for purported bullying by her brother.
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