A man accused of accessing several thousand child abuse material images and videos - allegedly depicting children as young as four years old - has been refused bail.
Newcastle Local Court heard on Tuesday afternoon that Troy Sansom, 36, told police in an interview after his arrest on Monday he believed his identity had been stolen to access the material through a cloud-based app - and that he had been the victim of identity theft previously.
The court heard that while no child abuse material was found on the hard drive of his phone, police allegedly discovered the cloud-based app had been previously downloaded on the device.
The court also heard police allegedly found email accounts which had been recently deleted from the phone.
Mr Sansom's solicitor Skye Nixon told the court her client's version of events was "plausible" and that he would be willing to abide by strict bail conditions to avoid being on remand for what was likely to be a lengthy delay before the matter went to trial.
The prosecution said the allegations were for "particularly egregious offences", and that the half-terabyte of material Mr Sansom allegedly accessed included images and footage that would be classified as "category one" - viewed as the most serious forms of child abuse material.
Magistrate Ian Rodgers said, from his reading of the available documents, the case appeared to be complex but "has some strength".
He refused bail and adjourned the matter to September 4.
Mr Sansom, of Hamlyn Terrace on the Central Coast, was arrested at work in Mayfield on Monday morning.
It came after the State Crime Command's Sex Crimes Squad Child Internet Unit launched an investigation into the 36-year-old earlier this month, under Strike Force Glandore.
He is facing seven counts of using a carriage service to access child abuse material.
Police said in a statement on Tuesday Strike Force Glandore's investigations were ongoing.
