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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A paedophile has been allowed to keep the proceeds from selling his home in country NSW, after a judge denied a police claim he had \u201cfortified\u201d it with security cameras to carry out his crimes.<\/p>\n John Benedict Brooks, now aged in his early 70s, was arrested in 2023 after the Australian Federal Police raided his home in Cooma, in south-eastern NSW.<\/p>\n Police said they found 212 images of child sexual abuse on Brooks\u2019 devices in the house and evidence of sexualised conversations with other abusers.<\/p>\n The children in the images were aged between infancy and 14.<\/p>\n He had used the dark web, encrypted apps and the pseudonym \u201cJohn Brown\u201d to conceal his identity in chats about adults raping young children.<\/p>\n Brooks was sentenced, in the NSW District Court, to two years in prison by Judge Robert Sutherland in March 2025.<\/p>\n He was released immediately after the judge had him sign a $1 good behaviour order.<\/p>\n During sentencing, Sutherland noted Brooks said had been \u201clonely, particularly during COVID\u201d and that he was addicted to the internet.<\/p>\n Brooks had penned a letter apologising to the court and said he wanted \u201cunderstanding \u2026 to work on becoming a better person\u201d.<\/p>\n The AFP, that same month, asked the courts to restrain Brooks\u2019 $370,000 home under proceeds of crime laws, preventing him from disposing of the house or benefiting from its sale.<\/p>\n \u201cPolice can and will pursue asset restraints, and while these matters commonly involve proceeds from money laundering or drug trafficking offending, it can also involve crimes like human trafficking, cybercrime and child exploitation, as this matter shows,\u201d AFP\u2019s Criminal Assets Confiscation Commander Jason Kennedy said at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cBottom line \u2013 if you engage in illegal activity, police will relentlessly pursue you, your assets and your wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks\u2019 home had a tall Colorbond fence, two security cameras with a monitor inside the loungeroom, and a doorbell camera.<\/p>\n On the wall of his computer den hung lengths of electronic cables and a sign \u201cthe best dad ever\u201d.<\/p>\n Police argued Brooks\u2019 security cameras, internet connection, fence and privacy of his home had amounted to \u201cfortifications\u201d that had enabled his crimes against children.<\/p>\n Brooks was not the first child abuser to have his assets seized by the AFP; a Belgian in Sydney forfeited $30,000 in equipment and funds, an Adelaide man lost half the value of his home after being sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n In 2023, authorities restrained vehicles and high-end electronics from a Geelong man and, in 2024, homes in the Northern Territory and South Australia were seized from online child abusers.<\/p>\n But Brooks countered, asking the NSW Supreme Court to carve the property out from any seizure by police.<\/p>\n The Cooma home was sold in 2025 and the funds were held by a bankruptcy trustee.<\/p>\n Justice Stephen Campbell earlier this month heard from both Brooks and the AFP\u2019s barristers in the NSW Supreme Court about who should receive the money: Brooks or the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n The key dispute was whether the home itself had been used as an instrument of Brooks\u2019 crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe commissioner points to the ethernet (wired, as opposed to wireless) connection within the house as being used to commit the offences, and the desktop computer being the only device so connected in the Cooma property. With respect, neither of these are actually features of the Cooma property,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n Further, the judge found, the privacy afforded to Brooks by his home was an \u201cinherent feature\u201d of all homes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing special about the Cooma property in this respect for Mr Brooks to turn to his advantage,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n The home was, primarily, a dwelling for the paedophile, rather than a place to commit his crimes, the judge found.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Campbell ruled in Brooks\u2019 favour.<\/p>\n \u201cI agree with Mr Brooks\u2019 submission that there was no feature of the Cooma property which aided the commission of the offences beyond what any other dwelling would afford,\u201d he said on June 19.<\/p>\n \u201c I am satisfied that the Cooma property \u2026 is not an instrument of unlawful activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell ordered the proceeds of the sale of the home would be \u201cexcluded from forfeiture\u201d by police.<\/p>\n The order has been stayed until July to give the AFP time to consider an appeal.<\/p>\n Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts<\/a> on email or turn on notifications in the app.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f308437d6dcf77797a5d0b9628667626c035346ed278406556c6da2b1bcf55a1.jpeg\")
The home of Cooma paedophile John Benedict Brooks, which was seized by police and sold in 2025.<\/p>\n![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8ebd25d18b375f1ba72d073c8d4d9277ffd302b40b591dc38e1132127c9c9eb0.jpeg\")
Police raiding John Benedict Brooks\u2019 home in early 2023.<\/p>\n![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/04fdfdef79ae886e5c0c1cc796128f669e5c575abd7590ea98d4c18f88d314a2.jpeg\")
Police said electronic devices, and John Benedict Brooks\u2019 home, were used to offend against children.<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/b220927b46fbd81c5c9635790287bf472824b81e565b492622cc84e45435bc8e.jpeg\")
John Brooks argued his home had not been an instrument of crime. A court agreed.<\/p>\n