Ex-Sydney childcare worker charged with 200 more abuse offences

In short:

Ashley Paul Griffith has been charged with more than 200 child abuse offences in NSW.

Griffiths, who is serving a life sentence in Queensland over similar offences, was extradited from Queensland to NSW on Wednesday.

The matter was adjourned until January. 

Notorious childcare paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith has been charged with more than 200 additional child abuse offences, allegedly committed against nearly two dozen children in NSW.

NSW Police allege Griffith sexually abused 23 children while he was working in Sydney's inner west between July 2014 and December 2017.

Griffith was extradited from Queensland to NSW on Wednesday and was arrested at Silverwater Correctional Facility on Friday morning.

The Queensland man is facing 202 offences in NSW relating to allegations of child sex abuse committed against children between the ages of one and five.

The charges include 68 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10 and 42 counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10.

He has also been charged with 23 counts of producing child abuse material and aggravated indecent assault relating to children.

The 48-year-old has been sentenced to life in jail in Queensland after admitting to offences against 69 girls at early learning centres in Brisbane and Italy over two decades.

'Lengthy and complex investigation'

NSW Police said its State Crime Command's Child Abuse Squad and the Australian Federal Police had been investigating the Sydney-based allegations since November 2022.

It said the "lengthy and complex investigation" involved forensically examining thousands of digital files and extensive victim identification inquiries.

After his extradition earlier this week, Queensland Corrective Services said Griffith would remain in NSW until the conclusion of the legal process and would go on to serve his jail term in the state that imposed the harsher sentence.

Griffith was sentenced for his Queensland offences in 2024, where the judge ordered Griffith to serve 27 years before being eligible for parole, almost double the state's statutory minimum sentence.

The matter was heard in a in NSW bail court on Friday morning, where legal aid lawyer Bethany Burns did not apply for bail on Griffith's behalf and it was formally refused.

Griffith was not required to appear, and Judge Daniel Covington adjourned the matter until January.