NSW police officer James Gwynne in court over incest and bestiality child abuse material

A police officer will have to wait to learn his fate over “very depraved” messages he sent about his fantasies of bestiality and incest.

James Anthony Gwynne appeared in Campbelltown District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to grooming a child for sex and using a carriage service to send and receive child abuse material.

The court heard the 31-year-old used the encrypted messaging platform Whisper to message multiple adult and underage users about his twisted fantasies involving bestiality and incest.

Gwynne sent the vile messages, many of which are too graphic to detail, between February and April last year while he was based at the Waverley Police Station in Sydney’s east.

“My secret is that my fantasies are illegal,” he told one user.

“As in I would go to jail.”

In his messages, Gwynne repeatedly disclosed his sexual fantasies involving dogs and his desire to have daughters whom he could impregnate.

He bragged about being a serving police officer and brazenly told a 17-year-old girl: “Daddy is a police officer”.

“Police officer and a perv lol,” she replied.

On Friday, Gwyne was accompanied by his parents. The court was told his wife was unable to be present but maintained her support.

Although the 31-year-old was due to be sentenced on Friday afternoon, Judge Tanya Smith said a number of issues needed to be resolved first.

She cited concerns with the particularisation of one of the charges, which had been “rolled up” to include using a carriage service to both solicit and transmit child sex abuse material.

Judge Smith said she was trying to determine what conduct was subject to which element of the charge, and whether the combination was legal.

“If I determine it’s not permissible by law, there would need to be an election made for one or the other charges,” she said.

If that were the case, crown prosecutor David Jordan said making a choice may “unwind” Gwynne’s guilty plea and “leave uncharged conduct which remained to be charged”.

The judge also raised discrepancies between the definition of a child under state and commonwealth law as a factor she is required to consider during sentencing.

She noted the matter “raises a lot of issues” and explained she was taking great pains to assess each charge instead of approaching Gwynne’s offences on a “holistic basis”.

“Some of the topics that are discussed are obviously very depraved but … it’s my job to sentence for an individual charge that’s before me and what conduct it is in respect of,” Judge Smith said.

“I’m not here to sentence somebody in terms of overall having beliefs or fantasies of a certain type.”

Judge Smith adjourned the matter for a week to allow the parties to make submissions on the issues raised.

If her concerns are adequately addressed, the court heard Gwynne will likely be sentenced before the end of year.

The 31-year-old looked dejected and attempted to evade the media as he left Campbelltown Courthouse with his parents.

On Friday, NSW Police confirmed Gwynne resigned from the force on August 23, more than six months after he pleaded guilty.

He was busted after investigators from the Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force posed as a fictional 15-year-old American girl on Whisper.

Gwynne initiated a conversation with the ‘teen’ in April 2022, and asked if she would “sit on a cute Australian cop’s face”.

The ‘teen’ made it clear she was only 15 years old before the cop sent her a photo of his erect penis next to his NSW Police uniform shirt.

Days later, police searched Gwynne’s home and Waverley Police Station and found several items he had been wearing in the images sent to the ‘teen’.

The disgraced police officer pleaded guilty to grooming a child outside Australia to make it easier to engage in sexual activity.

He also admitted to using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material, three counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material and using the service to offend.

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