WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Disgraced children’s book author Craig Silvey has been jailed for seven months after it was revealed the Fremantle father confessed to “drooling” over a sexually explicit photograph of a child and wanting to “make out with little ones”.

The extent of Silvey’s vile offending was finally detailed during his WA District Court sentencing on Monday, including revelations the 44-year-old was “obsessed with taboos”, including young children.

The court was told that Silvey started a conversation with a “fictitious” user on an adult website on January 7 this year, telling them: “Fremantle guy here, you sound amazing . . . we have very similar interests, would love to chat more. Do you have Signal or Session?”

The pair engaged in a sexualised conversation, during which Silvey said: “I’m extremely open-minded, completely non-judgemental and I’m obsessed with taboos.”

He said he “preferred” children over the age of five, adding that “eight was the perfect age ... I haven’t had any experience I’m sad to say, I’m a bit obsessed.”

Silvey later sent a sexually explicit photograph of a man and pre-pubescent male child, writing: “It’s not mine, I wish, but I’ve been drooling over this.”

He also wrote: “I love, love, love, love mums being intimate with little boys. I think it’s the sexiest and most beautiful thing in the world.”

Other messages included: “I f***ing love paedo mum stuff” and “I wanna make out with little ones.”

Detectives raided Silvey’s Fremantle home — which he shared with his ex-partner and young kids — on January 12, during which they seized an iPhone and Apple MacBook from his makeshift study which contained five videos and seven photographs of child exploitation material.

He was charged with two counts of possessing child exploitation material, one count of producing child exploitation material and one count of distributing child exploitation material.

But one possession count and the sole count of producing such material were dismissed earlier this year after his defence lawyer put forward a successful submission to the prosecution. He pleaded guilty to the two remaining charges in May this year.

In handing down her sentence, Judge Hayley Cormann described Silvey’s offending as “repulsive” and “degrading”, and that the consequences of his crimes would have a long-lasting impact on his victims.

“Your communication was open, it was asserting and it was unmistakable,” she said.

“You did this as a means to engage with others, and ultimately as a means to sexually satisfy yourself as part of your fantasies.”

She said that Silvey had contributed to the physical and psychological trauma of his victims, and that they were re-victimised every time a video or photograph was shared.

“These consequences will continue far beyond your victims and yourself and your family ... they extend more broadly,” she said.

Judge Cormann said that Silvey began engaging with pornographic content in anonymous chatrooms earlier this year to “escape adult pressures”, and that the conversations quickly escalated to sexually inappropriate chats regarding children.

In a letter to the court, Silvey accepted he had devastated and betrayed his readers. He acknowledged local schools and communities “deserved better” and that his family was “completely undeserving of the consequences of (his) own actions.”

Silvey — who was wearing a navy suit — showed no emotion as his sentence was handed down. He did not have any supporters in the courtroom.

His sentence was backdated to October 22 after spending 11 days in custody earlier this year. He was made eligible for parole.

Earlier in the hearing, defence lawyer Eloise Barker maintained her client did not have a sexual interest in children, rather was engaging in “emotional suicide” by “looking for depraved material.”

“His behaviour provided temporary relief from psychological agitation,” she said.

She said that Silvey had completed nearly 40 counselling sessions since January and had shown genuine remorse.

But State prosecutor Daniel Harrop rejected claims that Silvey was not sexually interested in children, adding that he had been the one who instigated the sexualised conversations.

He also said that Silvey had not been diagnosed with a mental impairment, and that he “lived a genuinely good life” without any instability.

“He not only possesses child exploitation material, but he distributed it to others, continuing the cycle of abuse for the child ... furthering the harm against children more broadly,” he said.

Mr Harrop said that a generation of children had found solace in Silvey’s novels, and that the offending was a “great betrayal of children who idolised Mr Silvey’s books”.

Silvey is best known for his young adult novels Runt, Jasper Jones and Honeybee — set around Perth and Western Australia — and were regularly used as material in the school curriculum.

In 2017, Jasper Jones was turned into a film adaptation starring Toni Collette.

He has won several awards including Australian Book Industry Awards Book the Year in 2010, Dymocks Book of the Year in 2020 and Book of the Year for Younger Australians in 2023.

Most of his books were purged from Australian school reading lists after he was charged.

WA Education Minister Sabine Winton said she ordered the Department of Education to “cease using texts by Craig Silvey for the 2026 school year while the allegations are under investigation”.

“The School Curriculum and Standards Authority will not penalise year 12 students who may refer to these texts in the 2026 ATAR Literature course examination,” she said at the time.

“Given this matter is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate for me to provide any further comment.”

Allen & Unwin and Fremantle Press — which published the 2004 novel, Rhubarb — have also stopped promoting his books

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