Paedophile Andrew Thomas Philips taken to hospital after being sentenced over 'vile, shocking' crimes

By court reporter Rebecca Opie, ABC News

A paedophile has been wheeled out of the court room and taken to hospital after being sentenced to 14 years in prison over seven child sex offences.  

Andrew Thomas Phillips 53 pleased guilty in the Adelaide District Court to committing seven child sex offences over the past three years, including gross indecency and maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child. 

The offending was against three boys in separate incidents.

During the sentencing, Judge Geraldine Davison had to stop several times as Philips coughed, heaved and was removed from the dock to vomit.

After he was sentenced to 14 years in prison and taken into custody, he was wheeled out of court on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

Philips caught after incident at Murray Bridge

The court heard Philips was arrested after he approached an 11-year-old boy who was riding his bike in Murray Bridge.

Philips offered the boy $50 to expose himself, but he refused and told his father who found Philips in the street and called police.

Officers searched his van, which was parked nearby, and found devices which contained hundreds of images of children being sexually abused — some of which were sadistic in nature.

Judge Davison said police also found footage Philips had filmed of himself sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.

"It is difficult to imagine the shock of the parents of this child when the police attended at their home to tell them that their child was the subject of what turned out to be horrendous sexual abuse," she said.

"This offending is made more graphic by the fact that you videoed your sexual encounters with this child and saved them on your computer under his name.

"You later disseminated material in relation to him to other paedophiles."

Philips introduced himself to one of his victim's parents, court hears

The court heard Philips started chatting to the boy online under a fake name and later approached him while he was walking home from school.

He lied about his age and claimed to be 30 before he offered him an orange fizzy drink and sexually assaulted him inside his van.

The court heard on two occasions he snuck into the boy's home in the middle of the night and continued the abuse in his bedroom while his parents were asleep.

The court heard before he started the prolonged abuse, Philips knocked on the door of the boy's house and introduced himself to his mother.

He gave her a business card for his maintenance and repairs business to check that the boy was not setting him up.

"Your interference and manipulation of this child is graphic, vile and plainly shocking," Judge Davison said.

In a victim impact statement, the boy's father said they were a normal happy family before police informed them about Philip's "evil actions".

"They characterize your actions as disgusting, vile and as actions of a man overpowering a child," Judge Davison said.

Philips was ordered to serve a non-parole period of 11 years and three months.