// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Popular Australian children's author jailed over child exploitation offences
The father-of-three is best known for his award-winning young adult novel Jasper Jones
Australian children's author Craig Silvey has been sentenced to seven months in jail for possessing and distributing child exploitation material.
In handing down her sentence, Judge Hayley Cormann called Silvey's actions "repulsive" and "degrading".
In January, Silvey was arrested after police raided his home in Western Australia and seized several electronic devices. In May, the 44-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material and in October he was jailed pending his sentencing.
The father-of-three is best known for his award-winning young adult novel Jasper Jones and children's book Runt, both of which were later made into movies.
"You have devastated and betrayed the trust of thousands of people, and you've let entire communities down," Cormann said on Monday, according to WA Today.
Police said Silvey had online chats, in which he discussed child exploitation, open at the moment they turned up to raid his house.
In them, the court heard, Silvey had described himself as "extremely open minded" and "obsessed with taboos".
He'd discussed his sexual interest in children as young as five with another user of a pornography site, and detectives found images and videos of other adults abusing children on his devices.
He was initially charged with four offences, but prosecutors later dropped two.