Accused rapist who led police to alleged paedophile Joshua Brown hit with new charges

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The man accused of receiving child abuse material filmed by alleged Melbourne childcare paedophile Joshua Brown is facing fresh charges of rape and stalking.

Detectives swooped on Brown earlier this year after allegedly discovering a cache of child abuse material on the phone of Michael Simon Wilson, who they were already investigating over the rape of a teenage boy in April.

Michael Simon Wilson has been accused of child sex offences.

This month, Wilson, 36, was charged in a separate case with multiple counts of rape, stalking and unlawful imprisonment.

Wilson had been fighting to suppress the details of the new case but he lost his bid on Tuesday. He had argued that his right to a fair trial would be affected by his alleged link to Brown, which was first revealed by this masthead in July.

Wilson, who does not work in childcare, was arrested in April after being accused of raping a teenage boy in Hoppers Crossing, in Melbourne’s south-west, who police say he met online.

The former waste management worker was then charged with 45 counts involving child abuse material, along with bestiality and inciting someone to suicide, as the wider investigation led police to Brown.

Brown had worked in more than 20 childcare centres across Melbourne and is accused of sexually abusing babies and toddlers at a centre in the city’s west between April 2022 and January 2023, and transmitting abuse material to Wilson. Investigations are also underway into further suspected abuse by Brown at another centre in Essendon.

The fresh charges of rape against Wilson are unrelated to child abuse and involve alleged incidents in 2018.

Wilson’s defence barrister, Heather Anderson, had fought for a gag order over the new case and for the court to ban media from linking Wilson’s case to Brown’s name in any reporting.

Prosecutor Pierce Russell opposed the move, arguing such “wide terms” would make the entire case unreportable. “That is an extraordinary order for the court to make,” he said.

Magistrate Donna Bakos refused the suppression bids, siding with Russell and lawyer Sam White, representing Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead.

“I am not persuaded that a proceeding with a suppression order is necessary,” Bakos said.

Wilson, who has been held in custody since his arrest in April, appeared via video link.

The Brown case has plunged Australia’s scandal-ridden childcare sector into crisis, as this masthead revealed that safety complaints were ignored at the two childcare chains where Brown is suspected of offending.

Last week, the top two executives of one of those chains, Affinity Education, which employed Brown, stood down. An internal source confirmed the departure of CEO Tim Hickey and COO Nishad Alani were related to this masthead’s reporting, including that Affinity had withheld evidence from sex crimes detectives investigating Brown.

Wilson will appear in court next on November 14 for a committal mention.