Former North Sydney Girls High School IT worker Michael Mowbray learns his fate as his sickening online searches are revealed

A former IT worker at a prestigious Sydney girls’ school searched the dark web for the term ‘teen jailbait’ to find child abuse material depicting girls aged between 10 and 15, a court has been told.

Michael Mowbray was working as an IT officer at North Sydney Girls High School around the time he was charged with possession of child abuse material in November 2022.

He initially tried to fight the charges, but withdrew the plea and pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child abuse material.

Mowbray, wearing a blue suit, stood before Manly Local Court on Wednesday, where a prosecutor revealed the 30-year-old had searched ‘teen jailbait’ to find the material.

The prosecutor argued that the former IT employee was “aware” of his criminality through his searches.

After searching for the images on the dark web using the TOR browser, the court was told he then uploaded three images to his OneDrive account, which he accessed on his work computer at school.

The rest of the 198 images and 103 videos were located on his bedroom computer and on an encrypted four-terabyte hard drive.

The court was told Mowbray called one of the files ‘extreme teenie video collection’ and another folder ‘shy British amateur teens at home alone f**k yay’.

The police prosecutor said the nature and content of the material was worrying as it depicted girls as young as 10 who are not easily mistaken for adults.

Mowbray was caught while working as an IT support specialist for the prestigious school, where he worked from a ‘helpdesk office’ in the library that provided support services.

The court was told he had a password-protected computer at the school that was accessed on November 22, 2022, by a new administrator, who found the folder on the computer in Mowbray’s personal OneDrive account.

The director was alerted and immediately informed the police.

Two days later, a search was conducted at his home, where the rest of the material was found.

The court heard Mowbray uploaded three of the 198 child abuse images to a cloud drive so they could be accessed from a password-protected computer at the school (pictured

Magistrate Robyn Denes said the material ‘very clearly depicted vulnerable children’.

She said it was clear Mowbray knew what he was doing because he had access to the dark web, which she said is an “indication” that it is something that “will not be easily accepted in the community.”

“He clearly wanted a certain kind of image,” the magistrate said.

‘I admit it wasn’t completely sophisticated… some of it was on OneDrive… most of the material was encrypted, there’s a degree of sophistication.

“Possession of child pornography is a callous and predatory crime.” The magistrate also noted that the crime is not victimless as it creates a market for the continued exploitation and abuse of children.

Ms Denes said once the images are online they are ‘there forever’.

“These children can never escape these images… imagine going through life knowing… that your children are encountering these images of you as a child,” she told the court.

“It’s terrible… it’s not victimless.”

Mowbray sat in the public gallery with a book and some chewing gum in his hand as the magistrate told the court his crimes were so serious there was no alternative to a prison sentence.

The remaining images and another 103 videos were located on Mowbray’s bedroom computer and on an encrypted four-terabyte hard drive.

He did not respond when Ms Denes sentenced him to 18 months in prison for the protection of the community and children.

She gave him a nine-month non-parole period, meaning he will be eligible for parole on November 20.

Mowbray was walked out of the courthouse by sheriff’s officers and taken to the cells.

The magistrate also ordered that the devices containing the material be destroyed.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison with a non-parole period of nine months, but he applied for bail shortly after his defense indicated Mowbray would appeal the sentence.

His lawyer George Costantine indicated he would appeal the sentence and applied for bail on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Costantine told Magistrate Robert Williams he was confident his client would see ‘possible’ success in the appeal.

“I am saying that each judge of the court can come to a different view regarding the administration of sentence in relation to his prospects for rehabilitation and criminal offences,” he argued.

He told the court his client had a supportive partner in the community and a job.

“Your Honor would find that he could comply with the bail requirement and that bail could be granted,” Mr Costantine said.

After assessing all the information, Mr Williams concluded that there was no other alternative to a full prison sentence.

He rejected the bail application.

The appeal will be heard in court in April.

NCA NewsWire revealed last year that Mowbray’s employment at the school ended shortly before his arrest, with a source saying staff were asked to hand in their school-issued laptops to the IT department in the following days.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Department of Education told NCA NewsWire that the safety and wellbeing of students and staff was the top priority.