TV Farmer admits to child exploitation material

A former participant on Farmer Wants a Wife is facing a possible jail term after admitting to possessing thousands of images and videos of young children being sexually abused.

ABC reports Matthew Goyder, who featured in the 2016 series on Nine, living on a station in Western Australia’s Pilbara region near Marble Bar. He was arrested early last year after chatting online to an undercover police officer.

Police seized a number of computers and phones from an apartment and found more than 2,200 images and more than 1,900 videos.

Last week Goyder’s lawyer, Sam Vandongen SC, told the West Australian District Court his client had been suffering from mental illness — including anxiety and depression — from a young age and that appearing on the reality show showed some level of dysfunction in his life.

“He must have gone into that with his eyes wide shut,” Mr Vandongen said.

“It’s unfortunate that somebody of his vulnerability was able to be convinced there would be some meaningful relationship for him at the end … he travelled to Queensland for it and that came crashing down.”

Mr Vandongen said it was “ironic” that Goyder’s appearance on the TV show had led to his case being reported in the media, saying he had been “shamed quite considerably and publicly”.

But State prosecutor Justin Keogh argued messages sent by Goyder to the undercover officer demonstrated he had “a real interest in children” and should be sent to prison.

The case returns to court next month.