Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough revealed on Tuesday that an extensive investigation had led to a former childcare worker being charged with 1623 child abuse offences against 91 children. 

“We allege the 45-year-old man from the Gold Coast recorded all his alleged offending on his phone and cameras,” Gough said.

The Assistant Commissioner went on to describe the case as “one of the most horrific child abuse cases that I've seen in nearly 40 years of policing.”

The offences are alleged to have taken place at 10 childcare centres in Brisbane between 2007 and 2013 and 2018 and 2022, one centre in Sydney between 2014 and 2017 and an overseas location in 2013 and 2014. 

Gough said nearly four thousand images and videos were seized, all of which were allegedly created by the man over 15 years. 

Authorities found the images circulated on the dark web, identifying bed sheets in the background of a video, linked to a Queensland manufacturer that supplied multiple childcare centres

The man was arrested in August 2022, with authorities working over the past year to identify and notify each of the Australian victims.