A New Zealand man convicted of having child sex images has been found to be operating a horse-breeding business at Manilla, near Tamworth, under an assumed name.
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Since 2017, Daniel Jones and his wife Adele Williams have been running Rocky Heights Sport Horses near Upper Manilla, about 500 kilometres north of Sydney, under the names Luke and Isabel Evans.
In 2014, Jones was running school discos in Hawke's Bay when he was found with child pornography after being caught out by a mother posing as her 12-year-old daughter online.
Earlier this year, Jones/Evans was reported to police in Australia by the stepfather of an 11-year-old girl who had been taking horse riding lessons led by Jones/Evans late last year.
The stepfather, who will not be named, said he went to police after finding the girl at Evans' house around New Year's Eve.
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"Something didn't add up to me. It came out a few days later that he'd been messaging her, telling her that I was hitting her mum and that his place was a safe place, and that he'd picked her up from our house. Of course I've never hit her mum. I was furious so I went to the police. They didn't think they could act and it went nowhere," he said.
"Our girl thought I was the bad guy, which made me even angrier. She says Luke is the only one who understands her and cares about her. To hear that ... that was hard. I went to his house and had words to him so he had a restraining order put on me.
"There's always been something about them that didn't sit right. They kept asking to take our girl away on a trip with them. When we said no and that we barely knew them, they got all pushy. All of us neighbours have had their own weird dealings with him," he said.
Neighbours found out Evans was actually Daniel Jones earlier this month when someone anonymously sent a link to Stuff articles covering Jones' offending in New Zealand. They recognised him immediately from the photograph.
"As soon as I saw that article I was like 'I knew it, I knew something wasn't right'," the stepfather said.
He has been back to police this week with the new information.
Oxley Police District Sergeant Michael Moy told Stuff he was aware of the situation, but would not say whether Luke Evans was Daniel Jones.
After the anonymous tip surfaced, Jones/Evans and his wife removed their Facebook pages, and those of their businesses, Rocky Heights Sport Horses and Luke's Lawns and Trimmings.
This week, a "For Sale" sign appeared on the gates of their property.
Stuff has spoken to someone who knew Jones in New Zealand and was aware that he had assumed the name Luke Evans in Australia.
The Jones/Evans property in Upper Manilla has the name of Daniel Williams on the title, with the mortgage listed to Jones's parents, who live in Napier.
Jones's parents' address is also the company address of Tack Up Limited - the business run by Jones and Williams in Levin before they left the country.
OBJECTIONABLE MATERIAL
Jones, now 29, was caught out by a Napier mother in 2014 when he was trying to initiate inappropriate Facebook conversations with her 12-year-old daughter.
When police searched Jones' Taradale home, they found a large number of objectionable video and photo images, including some of children and bestiality.
He was sentenced to 150 hours of community work and 12 months of supervision after pleading guilty to 12 charges of possessing objectionable material in Napier District Court.
Jones and Williams later moved to Levin to run the Tack Up saddlery and equestrian store.
Just four months after being convicted in Napier, Jones breached his supervision conditions by using an internet-capable device and contacting a person under 16 - both of which he was not allowed to do.
He appeared in Levin District Court in March 2015, and his sentence of supervision was replaced by one of 18 months' intensive supervision.
Jones had been sending Facebook messages to a 12-year-old Horowhenua girl.
After a woman posted a message on Facebook about the types of comments he had been sending, Jones filed defamation proceedings against her and against Fairfax Media, the then publisher of Stuff and The Dominion Post.
He abandoned the claim after becoming aware the woman had copies of the Facebook messages. He had to pay $25,000 costs to Fairfax.
Neither Jones or his wife could be contacted as their phones have been disconnected.
Marty Sharpe is the Hawke's Bay Bureau Chief for Stuff NZ.
