A Campbell Town man was fined $800 and committed to the sex offender's register for twelve months after pleading guilty to child exploitation offences.
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John Clifford Reardon, 72, emailed a friend discussing hiring a 12-year-old girl for sex.
He pleaded guilty in the Launceston Magistrates Court counts of possess, make, reproduce and distribute child exploitation material and a count of possessing bestiality material.
The court heard that police received information about the uploading of child expoitation material in July 2020.
Police seized Reardon's Google pixel mobile phone in a raid which showed browsing of child exploitation material on the internet.
Reardon contacted police concerned about what police would find on the phone in relation to conversations about underage sex.
In an interview with police, he said that nothing had ever taken place, but the texts would be graphic.
'How young would you go?' was a question posed on the communication.
The court heard that the conversation was between Reardon and two other parties.
"He told police he may have sent the messages because he drinks on Friday afternoons," police prosecutor Angela Robinson said.
In a further interview in April 2021 Reardon admitted an email which mentioned utilising a 12-year-old female for sex at a price of $500 an hour.
The email was to a female friend.
"He said that the content was just fantasy and sexual contact did not happen," Ms Robinson said.
"He agreed it was drunken fantasy and that it was child exploitation material."
The bestiality material comprised a 20-minute video of a woman having sex with a horse.
Defence counsel Michael Larcombe said Reardon ran a small community radio station in Campbell Town and was at a low period in his life.
"It is the first time he has been before a court," Mr Larcombe said.
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