Queensland’s worst childcare paedophile could have been caught five times, report finds

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Queensland’s worst childcare paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith could have been caught five times, including two occasions where he was seen kissing young girls in his care, if the state had a mandatory reporting scheme.

A review of Griffith’s protracted offending by the Child Death Review Board, released on Monday, found childcare centres took isolated action against the paedophile and had no obligation to escalate their concerns.

Furthermore, childcare centres were not keeping records for why they no longer employed Griffith, and they failed to seek referee reports from his previous places of work.

Convicted child abuser Ashley Paul Griffith.

Griffith was sentenced to life in prison for hundreds of charges of child abuse dating back to 2003, including 28 counts of rape against young girls, primarily aged three to five, in Queensland childcare centres.

He pleaded guilty to 307 offences including ongoing sexual abuse and making child exploitation material against nearly 70 victims. His youngest victim was a one-year-old and the oldest was aged seven to nine.

He had filmed all but one of the 65 victims as he sexually assaulted them. The children were awake or asleep, and he frequently gave them an iPad to distract them.

The Queensland government asked the Child Death Review Board to examine system responses to child sexual abuse and identify how Griffith slipped through the cracks.

“There are at least three, and up to five events, on the offender timeline where a reportable conduct case should and would have been opened, reported to the Queensland Family and Child Commission, investigated and quality assured,” the report says.

This included two instances where Griffith kissed two girls in his care between 2018 and 2022.

In June 2022, a childcare centre received a report from a parent that Griffith had rubbed their daughter’s bottom during rest time.

Queensland police spoke with the child involved, but did not interview Griffith. The Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (ECRA) was made aware of the incident, but it also did not launch an investigation.

The report says there was too much of a focus on criminal acts, rather than child safety, and police thresholds for taking action were too low.

Griffith was only arrested after he uploaded abuse material online – from Italy – two months later.

Luke Twyford, chair of the Child Death Review Board, said there were 18 chances where Griffith’s actions could have been detected by authorities, adding that he was dismissed from jobs at five childcare centres.

“This is not someone that escaped all eyes or visibility. Children spoke about him, parents spoke up about him, colleagues and centre managers spoke up about him,” Twyford said.

“He was dismissed from his employment on more than five occasions. He had police investigations into his conduct [and] early childhood regulatory investigations into his conduct.

“And none of that made a difference.

“This man was ultimately caught because he uploaded photos to the dark net when he was living in Italy. There is something wrong with our system.”

The 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended a reportable conduct scheme. That was not passed by the state Labor government until June 2024.

The scheme will not begin until 2026.

“We make a very loud and bold call for both the federal government and Queensland government to transform the protection of employers who want to stand down someone because they may pose a risk to children,” Twyford said.

“We do not want the government to stand here and say they accept all the recommendations of the report.

“We want them to read all 561 pages and take the time to deal with it in a very mature and thoughtful way and present to the Queensland public a holistic response of how they intend to keep children safe. Ultimately, our community must be held safer – everyone has a job in keeping children safe.”