Warning: This article contains references to child abuse

A “loner” considered an “imminent” risk of carrying out an abhorrent child abuse plot he had been extensively scheming was “stunned” when authorities came knocking at his door.

Details of Jason William Forbes’ twisted plan to snatch a child and abuse them in a modified roof space emerged on Tuesday, when police revealed he had been sentenced to seven years and five months behind bars.

Forbes was calculated, scoping out schools, kindergartens and early learning centres, researching ways to approach, isolate and restrain children, created detailed diagrams outlining an intended abduction and even used his Tesla to take videos of kids on their driveways.

His planning and end goal “chilled” even experienced officers.

Authorities were alerted in mid-2024 by the importation of an illegal child-like sex doll, and about 10 days later officers were at his home in Baldivis, 30 minutes south of the Perth CBD.

“It was apparent why he didn’t want us in the premises,” Australian Border Force inspector David Williamson said on Wednesday.

“There was an electronic device displaying child abuse material on the kitchen bench.

“There was the additional doll in the bedroom.

“We sighted the [mind map of notes on a] mirror and were into the car.”

Further searches of his devices uncovered a significant amount of exploitation material involving very young children.

Authorities said extensive planning demonstrated Forbes had a “real intention to undertake these activities” and that without decisive action, “something terrible could have happened”.

“Certainly the planning was well advanced. So written documentations covered various methods that could be used for a child abduction,” detective acting superintendent Eamon Flanagan said.

“He’d made alterations to his vehicle to record children, as we know, and had started making alterations to his house.

“So the reality is it could have happened at any point.”

Police said they mapped out his routine, knew where he worked and used other aspects of his life to strike early with a warrant.

“He wasn’t expecting us — he was quite stunned,” Williamson said.

“We conducted our intelligence screening. We’d established a pattern of life for the offender.

“So within around 10 days from the interception (of the doll), we were at the offender’s door.”

Flanagan described Forbes, a former electrician, as a “loner” who lived “quite a hermit-type lifestyle” alone.

Forbes was charged and later pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including attempting to possess childlike sex dolls, using a carriage service to prepare and plan for a sexual activity with a child and possessing child exploitation material.

Police said they waited to release details of the crime so they could confirm he acted alone.

“There were a number of investigations going on to make sure that there were no other children at risk, as well as engagement with the children that had been, I suppose, scoped in relation to these incidents,” Flanagan said.

“We had to engage with families as well.

“So there were a number of actions that were still being undertaken at the time.

Flanagan said even people in the street where he lived were had been kept in the dark about the operation.

“There’s obviously matters of privacy and certainly if we had any evidence that indicated that any of those children were at risk … then engagement with the family would have been undertaken,” he said.

Stopped at the border

Williamson said there had been 47 attempts to import child sex dolls in the past year, with four people in WA currently before the courts.

Dolls are “typically sourced online and out of China” and “there is a level of complicity” in how they are marketed, sold and described in consignments.

Some suppliers split the parts into different shipments to try and slip past authorities.

They remain alert to the crime because “research suggests that it can be an escalation point to conduct offending”.

“Our border targeting teams are quite adept and skilled at looking for the subtle indicators that childlike sex dolls are contained in consignments,” Williamson said.

“We have a high degree of confidence that we are detecting those dolls when they’re coming across the border.”

Flanagan was pleased with the result but conceded he is “surprised daily”.

“The nature of the job that we have is that we see the most depraved and worst things,” he said.

“However, the levels of depravity are constantly shifting and we are surprised.

“We know in WA that this type of thing has happened in the past with children being abducted, so we know it is a possibility.

“However, it is a rare event.”

Forbes will be eligible for release in December 2029.

Source: https://7news.com.au/news/jason-william-forbes-could-have-carried-out-chilling-kidnapping-plot-at-any-point-c-21602687