A paedophile senior Victoria Police officer has admitted to seven child abuse-related charges relating to nearly 20,000 videos and images of girls as young as two.
Allan Hawley, 50, a leading senior constable in Sunshine who worked as a crime scene officer until his arrest in January 2023, pleaded guilty in the County Court on Monday, the Herald Sun reported.
The court heard Hawley said he was a “proud pedo and love little girls from 4 up to 12” in a group chat called “fun” on encrypted chat app Wickr, where he accessed and transmitted child exploitation material.
The once-trusted officer kept 19,856 files, including 168 hours of footage of young girls, across six devices, including on a Samsung mobile phone found by investigators hidden in his locker at Sunshine Police Station, 7 News reported.
Judge Frank Gucciardo called Hawley’s offending “shocking, grotesque and vile”.
“It’s insidious behaviour … it’s really staggering that adult men can engage in this conduct,” he said.
The court was shown a sickening message from Hawley, a father of two, to another paedophile saying: “I can’t wait for my boys to have their own, hope they have girls.”
“We should go into business, open up a pedo child minding company,” he said in another message.
The court heard his wife had caught him with images of young girls on his phone four years before he was eventually arrested, but still stands by him and submitted a character reference.
When police raided his home and asked if he knew why they were there, he said: “Yep. Child exploitation.”
Hawley will be placed in protective custody as he awaits sentencing.
Header image: Alan Hawley (7 News).
