Feared corporate raider set to learn whether he will go to jail over child porn stash

Disgraced multi-millionaire Ron Brierley has been sentenced to 14 months jail after being found with thousands of images of child abuse.

Sydney judge Sarah Huggett sentenced the 84-year-old former corporate raider on Thursday morning after he was arrested in 2019 when stopped at Sydney Airport on his way to Bali.

Brierley, who once chaired one of Australia’s most valuable public companies and was knighted in New Zealand, was stripped of his knighthood and scrubbed from a building in his old school after he pleaded guilty in April.

Brierley was knighted in 1988 and is a former trustee of the Sydney Cricket Ground. He retired from business in June last year after a career spanning 60 years

In August, his lawyer argued it wouldn’t be appropriate to jail the elderly man, who has been on bail since his arrest.

Brierley had become aware since his arrest of the wrongness and illegality of having 40,000 images of clothed prepubescent girls in sexually suggestive poses, Tim Game SC said.

A hoarder, Brierley told a medical expert he ‘missed the images’ taken from him, Judge Huggett was told.

But the Crown has argued jail was the only option for Brierley’s crimes, particularly to send the necessary message to other people committing such offences.

He was stopped at Sydney Airport by authorities and questioned about electronic devices in his luggage in 2019 

Brierley sold a two-level apartment (pictured) in what was once the Sebel Townhouse Hotel in Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay, for $4,215,000 on August 19 

Brierley rose to prominence in the 1970s with his eponymous company Brierley Investments Ltd that started with little capital but developed into an Australian-New Zealand conglomerate with investments in firms around the world.

He was stopped at Sydney Airport on the way to Fiji in December 2019 and questioned about digital devices in his luggage.

He told police he thought the 11,000 images of girls in sexualised poses and in various states of undress were ‘perfectly OK’.

Searches of his home in Sydney’s exclusive Point Piper uncovered another 35,000 child abuse images on devices in his dining room, hallway and master bedroom – though prosecutors agree a ‘significant’ number of images are duplicates.

A text file named ‘The Stepfather’ detailed the sexual abuse of girls aged nine and 11.

Brierley was bailed to live in his mansion (pictured) in Wunulla Road, Point Piper. One of Sydney’s most respected real estate experts estimated it would be worth at least $30million

WHO IS RON BRIERLEY?

Ron Brierley was a feared corporate raider in the 1980s. He is now charged with six counts of possessing child abuse material

Ron Brierley was born in Wellington in New Zealand and became a feared corporate raider in his homeland, Australia and the United Kingdom. 

Brierley launched RA Brierley Investments in 1961.

He was famed for spotting companies which were rich in assets and poor in returns for investors. 

Brierley would swoop in to take over such business and restructure them to return strong profits. 

He was involved in moves on supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths, department store David Jones, Adelaide Steamship Company and Air New Zealand.

Brierley Investments was the largest company in New Zealand by market capitalisation in 1984 but faltered in 1987 after the share market crash. 

According to BRW’s Rich List, Brierley was worth $160million the day before the crash. New Zealand’s NBR 2019 Rich List put his wealth at $200million.

Brierley became chairman of Guinness Peat Group in 1990 and lead well-known corporate raider Mercantile Investments from 2015.

He announced his retirement in June last year citing health reasons.