{"id":90119,"date":"2026-09-07T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/90119\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:28:10","slug":"convicted-transmitter-of-child-abuse-material-found-working-in-lego-store-sparks-calls-for-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/90119\/","title":{"rendered":"Convicted transmitter of child abuse material found working in Lego store sparks calls for reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Melbourne<\/a> toy store owner was left blindsided after discovering a senior employee was hiding a past conviction for sharing child sex abuse material with one of Australia\u2019s<\/a> most notorious child abusers.<\/p>\n

Thomas Donaldson, employed as the “minifigure manager” at Brickville, featured regularly in the store’s social media promotions and interacted daily with children and families.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thomas Donaldson was convicted of transmitting child abuse material.\u00a0A Current Affair<\/p>\n

Four years ago, Donaldson was sentenced to 15 months\u2019 imprisonment for transmitting child abuse material as part of a network led by Jadd Brooker \u2013 an HIV-infected offender who received a 36-year sentence in 2023<\/a> after being caught with 4.5 million illicit images.<\/p>\n

Donaldson was confronted\u00a0 about his past inside the store’s back room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese offences were years ago … I served my time,\u201d Donaldson claimed when questioned about his employment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I found a job that I love, and a community that I love, and I’ve been working to leave the mistakes that I made in the past.”<\/p>\n

When asked why he failed to disclose his criminal record to his employer, Donaldson stated he was under no legal obligation to do so.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donaldson, left, appeared in promotional images on the store\u2019s social media pages.\u00a0A Current Affair<\/p>\n

Under current Victorian legislation, background and working with children checks are strictly mandated for specified sectors such as childcare and education, leaving retail stores exempt from automatic screening.<\/p>\n

Brickville owner Sean McConville confirmed he was completely unaware of Donaldson’s criminal history prior to being informed, citing current privacy regulations and employment norms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no legal requirement based on the Privacy Act for a business like mine to do background checks,\u201d McConville said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So I just employed someone that I felt I trusted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And I made a mistake.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brickville owner Sean McConville, left, quickly terminated Donaldson\u2019s employment once he found out of his criminal past\u00a0A Current Affair<\/p>\n

Sean took immediate action following the revelation, confirming Donaldson was terminated from his position on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be leaving my business today … right now,\u201d McConville confirmed.<\/p>\n

The incident highlights growing concerns surrounding legislative loopholes that allow high-risk offenders to seek employment in child-adjacent environments without detection.<\/p>\n

Victims’ rights advocates, including Bruce and Denise Morcombe, are using the incident to reiterate calls for a unified, publicly accessible national child sex offender register.<\/p>\n

While states such as Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia maintain varying forms of offender registers, populous jurisdictions like NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania lack public access models.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s about putting the rights of children ahead of convicted paedophiles,\u201d Bruce Morcombe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We need to know where they are.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Melbourne toy store owner was left blindsided after discovering a senior employee was hiding a past conviction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21],"class_list":["post-90119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}