A high-profile former corporate raider has been allegedly caught with child abuse material three years after he was let out of prison on a successful appeal.
One-time corporate high-flyer and multimillionaire Ron Brierley, 87, was granted bail today on three charges of possessing the illegal material.
He was released on the condition that he wouldn’t have access to any internet-connected devices without approved supervision.
His case returns to Sydney’s Waverley Local Court later in March.
Brierley was jailed in October 2021 after the former business tycoon pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child abuse material found on devices in his luggage at Sydney Airport and at his Point Piper home.
The elderly man was released on appeal in February 2022 when a court ruled his conditions of custody, together with his physical and mental ill-health, were significantly worse than contemplated when he was sentenced.
The court revised his 14-month sentence to 10 months, with a non-parole period of four months.
Brierley was caught with more than 40,000 images of pre-pubescent girls in swimwear, underwear or other clothing in sexually suggestive poses.
He also had two sexually explicit stories involving the abuse of children and an image of a naked girl posing on a bed.
Brierley once chaired one of Australia’s most valuable public companies, was a board member of the Sydney Cricket Ground trust and was knighted in 1988 in his native New Zealand.
He gave up his knighthood when the New Zealand government moved to strip it away following the laying of the previous child abuse material charges.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
