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Offender Databases Michael Burt

Michael David Burt

Alias

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Offences

20 charges of possession of child porn in Mt Maunganui in 2007
Also another 19 charges of distribution of same.

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1962

Current Location

On home detention in Mount Maunganui

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 12 months' home detention and 300 hours community work in December 2007

Background
Dominion Post, Thursday, 20th December 2007
The sentence imposed on a Mount Maunganui man caught in an international child porn Internet sting has been criticised by the department of Internal Affairs and an anti child porn lobby group.

Michael David Burt, 45, last month pleaded guilty to 20 representative charges of possessing and 19 charges of distributing objectionable child pornography images. Yesterday, appearing before Judge Thomas Ingram in Tauranga District Court, he was sentenced to 12 months' home detention and 300 hours community work. The maximum penalty for each distribution offence is up to 10 years in jail and five years for each possession charge.

The Bay of Plenty Times reported Burt's sentence had shocked and dismayed Steve O'Brien, the national manager of Internal Affairs' Censorship Compliance Unit. "Naturally I'm very disappointed as the Government recently increased the maximum penalties to send a clear deterrent message to Burt and to others about how seriously this type of depraved behaviour is treated," Mr O'Brien said.

Denise Ritchie, barrister and founder of Stop Demand Foundation charitable trust – an anti-child porn trade lobby group – said she was disappointed by the "weak" and "lenient" sentence given to Burt. Giving him home detention was unacceptable, inappropriate and just trivialised his offending, she said.

Last month Judge Ingram deferred sentencing for Burt to obtain further submissions because he was "uncomfortable" with the Crown's proposed starting point of 18 months' to two years' imprisonment, saying three years was more appropriate. Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam argued to that end, and cited recent Court of Appeal judgements which said home detention was totally inappropriate for such cases.

Despite the submissions, Judge Ingram told Burt that he had formed the view that home detention under tight restrictions, coupled with community work, was the appropriate sanction for a number of reasons, including the fact that the large majority of the images fell into the "less serious offending" category. He also took into account his otherwise good character and his motivation to addresses the causes of his offending.

During his period of home detention Burt is barred from possessing or accessing any computer, consuming alcohol or illicit drugs, and must undergo a psychological assessment and attend any counselling and treatment programmes directed by his probation officer. German police caught Burt, a machine operator, participating in an Internet site forum last year. Using the nickname "Mike is Smurf," he had access to child sex abuse movies and pictures. Forum members could upload and download available files.

They depicted boys aged eight to 16 years engaged in sexual activities. Acting on information from the German authorities, the department's Censorship Compliance Unit tracked "Mike is Smurf" to a Mt Maunganui address.When a search warrant was executed in March this year, Burt was home and in the process of sending a compressed file of 26 pictures to another person by email.

Dominion Post, November 30th, 2007
Michael David Burt, 45, a machine operator from Mt Maunganui, pleaded guilty last month to 19 charges of distributing and another 20 of possessing objectionable publications, after German authorities alerted the department.

Using the nickname "Mike is Smurf", Burt had access to child sex- abuse movies and pictures. The 20 possession charges relate to samples of 149 movies and more than 200 pictures found on his computer. They depicted boys aged 8 to 16 engaged in a variety of sexual activities. Burt is on bail and will be sentenced next month

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Corrections and Additional Information
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