Thousands of child exploitation images, including images of children as young as two being raped and tortured, were found on a laptop computer discarded at an apartment rubbish dump.
The computer was found by a member of the public at a central Christchurch address, who briefly checked it and saw what appeared to be images of naked underage boys.
When police did a full forensic examination, they found 3266 files, including dozens that were in the worst category of exploitation images.
Police determined the laptop belonged to Jasper James Gallacher Force, 30, who lived at the apartment complex where it was dumped.