Todd Keith Laurance Dale Williams, 30, of Remuera has been sentenced to three years and seven months in prison after admitting four charges of knowingly possessing child sexual exploitation material.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said investigators found 8,928 images and videos across multiple devices and accounts in Williams’ possession, including material showing adults sexually abusing babies and children. A further 3,103 files were located but were not included in the charges because the ages of people in those files could not be confirmed.

Williams became a person of interest in early 2023 during a joint operation between the DIA’s Digital Child Exploitation Team and an international law enforcement agency. DIA said the broader operation focused on the sale of child sexual exploitation material via a social media platform. Around the same time, a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children flagged an objectionable video uploaded to a social media app; the account behind the upload was attributed to Williams.

By order of the judge, the devices Williams used to store and access the material will be destroyed. He is also required to go on the child sex offender register.

“People who download this material are perpetuating its creation and the crimes committed against these children. Every image and video possessed by this offender depicts a crime scene,” said Tim Houston, Manager of the Digital Child Exploitation Team.

DIA said the Digital Child Exploitation team conducted 69 investigations in 2024 and helped safeguard 14 children. Its filtering system blocked more than one million attempts to access websites hosting child sexual abuse material over the same period.

DIA is directing parents and caregivers to online safety advice at KeepItRealOnline.govt.nz. Concerns about potential online harm can be reported to the Department’s Digital Child Exploitation Team. For situations where abuse is occurring or a child is in immediate danger, call Police on 111.