Tasmanian Man Sentenced Over Child Abuse Material

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A Tasmanian resident, Barry James Hubble, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child exploitation material in a case heard in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on 30 July 2025.

Justice Brett delivered the sentence, noting that Mr Hubble had stored 18,126 files of child abuse imagery across three separate devices discovered in his bedroom. Among these were 12,936 unique images and videos, categorized under the Interpol classification system. The files included 762 category 1 images, which involve explicit sexual acts with children, and 17,364 category 2 files, depicting other abusive contexts.

Court documents describe content of a deeply disturbing nature; some material showed penetrative abuse of girls aged 8 to 15 years, including scenes of children being tied up, subjected to restraint, or abused in degrading ways. In one instance, an eight‑year‑old child was tied to a clothes horse and subjected to abuse by both an adult and an animal.

At the time of the offences, Mr Hubble was 47 years old. The court heard that he had experienced a traumatic childhood involving sexual abuse and currently suffers from chronic pain requiring heavy medication. Nonetheless, Justice Brett emphasized that these factors did not mitigate the moral seriousness of the offense. He ruled that immediate custody was necessary due to the gravity of the crime and the need for general deterrence.

While acknowledging the early guilty plea, which avoided the need for trial and showed some awareness of wrongdoing, the judge remarked that the scale and character of the material demanded imprisonment. The sentence was set at 16 months, with eligibility for parole only after eight months served.

Under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005, Mr Hubble was also ordered to be placed on the state’s offender register. He must comply with reporting obligations for a period of five years, as the court was not satisfied he posed a lower risk of future offending.

The case highlights the severity with which Australian courts treat the possession of child exploitation material. Justice Brett noted that such possession directly contributes to demand for new abusive content, inflating harm to children. Even fictional or animated content is taken seriously under Australian law if it depicts minors.

Authorities and child‑safety advocates welcomed the sentence as an example of firm application of child protection laws and deterrence policy.