A Queensland man has admitted to trying to organise a time to have sex with a 12-year-old girl while on an overseas trip with his wife and three children.
Gary Richmond-Jones, 57, flew from Sydney to Manila, in the Philippines, in December 2022, and was stopped by border force officers when he returned.
Child abuse material was found on his phone, and a subsequent AFP investigation found messages about his sickening plans to abuse children, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Richmond-Jones pleaded guilty to preparing and planning to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16 outside Australia, and importing child abuse material.
He is due to be sentenced in August.
Eight days into the Philippines trip, Richmond-Jones, who is from Mackay, downloaded encrypted messaging app Telegram to contact a stranger who messaged him on social media platform X , offering child abuse material.
‘Hey, saw your Twitter. Interested. Pinay girls loli,’ Richmond-Jones wrote.
He told the NSW District Court that ‘Pinay’ meant Filipino females and ‘loli’ referred to underage girls.
A Queensland man has admitted to trying to organise a time to have sex with a 12-year-old girl while on an overseas trip with his wife and three children (pictured, the red light district of P Burgos Street in the Makati area of Manila, Philippines)
On December 26, 2022, Richmond-Jones was sent previews of videos appearing to show adults abusing children and a price list for them, ranging from $3.80 to $51.
‘Looks good,’ he replied. ‘I will send (payment) as soon as I can.’
The court heard Richmond-Jones was told he could avoid paying ‘by card’ by instead using a local Philippines 7-Eleven’s loyalty program.
‘Is it possible to find real 13-15 in Manila?’ he asked.
Richmond-Jones and told the court he was thinking about engaging in sexual activity with a child.
The person he was arranging things with asked where he was and Richmond-Jones replied that he was in the Philippines and he would be in the capital Manila soon.
Three days later, he sent a text saying, ‘I arrive next Friday’.
In reply he received nine photos of girls aged between 12 and 16, some with cartoon symbols hiding their breasts.
‘All gorgeous, but (redacted name) would be the pick,’ he wrote, talking about a 12-year-old girl.
He then asked what the price was and said he needed to keep the transaction secret from his wife.
When the costs for ‘services’ was sent to him, Richmond-Jones wrote ‘fantastic, I will book a hotel’.
But he backed out of the plan on the day it was supposed to happen and did not reply to the other person’s texts, the court was told.
The court heard Richmond-Jones was told he could avoid paying ‘by card’ by instead using a local Philippines 7-Eleven’s loyalty program (pictured, a mock-up of the Telegram messages Richmond-Jones sent)
Richmond-Jones told a sentence hearing he ‘deeply regret(ted)’ his ‘completely unacceptable’ actions and that ‘child abuse is never OK’.
‘It was a wake-up call to myself that I was even considering it,’ he said.
‘If it had been my children, I certainly would’ve been looking for the people involved to be prosecuted and brought to justice.
‘I look at my children and there is an innocence that shouldn’t be taken away.’
Though Richmond-Jones tried to ‘justify’ what he did by thinking it was ‘just online’ he later realised it put children at risk.
‘The only way to stamp it out is to stop it from happening and in this case it had to start with me not proceeding with what I was planning to do,’ he told the court.
Daily Mail Australia contacted the car seller that Richmond-Jones lists on LinkedIn as being where he works as a sales manager, but was told he does not work there.
