Australian IT - Child porn surfer walks free (Nick Lenaghan, February 21, 2002) "What it is leading to are these industries in countries like Russia and Indonesia and in South America where children are being sexually abused to feed the (demand for) images in the first world," Ms McMenamin said.

Tipped off by three teenage female burglars, police raided Allan's Sunbury home in May last year where they found more than 1600 images stored on computer and discs.

But Justice Spillane said there were mitigating circumstances for Allan, including the loss of his public service career, his public humiliation and his guilty plea.