A woman arrested on child abuse charges linked to award-winning children’s author Craig Silvey is a bookkeeper grandmother and member of a Western Australian motorcycle club.

Glenda Joy McGregor has been charged with two counts of producing child exploitation material and one of distributing it and has been remanded in custody.

The 68-year-old, who has worked as an administration and finance manager, was arrested and held behind bars after police investigating Silvey made a forensic analysis of the material on his seized devices.

WA Police revealed the charges against McGregor as they charged Silvey with a new count each of producing child exploitation material and of possessing child exploitation material.

The acclaimed author of Rhubarb, Runt and Honeybee, is on bail with both a $100,000 surety and a $100,000 personal undertaking granted by a magistrate who noted in January that ‘imprisonment is a likely outcome’ of his case.

Silvey is best known for his 2009 novel Jasper Jones, which won the Australian Book Industry’s Book of the Year Award and has been adapted for film and various stage productions.

Glenda McGregor, who was arrested in February, was refused bail on charges including three counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she most recently worked for an industrial machinery manufacturer and she was listed as a committee member of Ulysses Fremantle, a social club for motorcycle riders over the age of 40.

Through the club, which is a charitable organisation with no criminal connections, McGregor has volunteered for the annual WA charity cycling event, the MACA Cancer 200 bike ride, and the Walk for Women’s Cancer. 

McGregor, who has also worked in the transport and mining industries and has five grandchildren, lists her location as Marangaroo, north of Perth.

She is due back before Fremantle Magistrates Court on April 2. Craig Silvey’s bail has been continued until his next hearing in May.

Silvey was arrested in January after police allegedly caught the 43-year-old writer ‘actively engaging’ with other alleged child exploitation offenders online. 

He was originally charged with one count each of possessing and sharing child exploitation material.

Police accuse Silvey of engaging in online conversations over several days during which he allegedly expressed a sexual interest in children and distributed child exploitation material.

Court documents allege he chatted with other paedophiles on adult sites using the alias ‘Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy’, telling them he was a ‘Fremantle guy’ with ‘very similar interests’. 

Initially, the writer refused to give detectives permission to gain access to his phone, computer, and other devices. 

Days after his arrest, Silvey’s lawyer applied to Fremantle Magistrates Court to vary his bail so that he could access his phone.

The author wanted to delete social media accounts such as his Instagram page after people posted derogatory remarks. 

The charges have effectively brought Silvey’s career to a standstill, with his publisher Allen & Unwin halting promotion of his books, while acknowledging he ‘is entitled to … a presumption of innocence’.

Education departments in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory have told schools to pull his novels from their shelves and delete Silvey’s catalogue.

Jasper Jones and Rhubarb were suggested texts for Year 11 and 12 students in WA before being stripped from the state’s school curriculum. 

Bookstores around the country have also removed Silvey’s books and major retailer Dymocks has erased his name from its website.

Silvey published Rhubarb, his first novel, in 2004 when he was 19. Jasper Jones sold almost one million copies globally and was made into a film, as was his award-winning 2022 novel, Runt.

A stage adaptation of Runt by Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre Company has been postponed indefinitely.

The WA council, the City of Subiaco, has removed his name from its once-prestigious Craig Silvey Award for Young Writers, although he still features in stories on its website, posing in photographs with children.

In January, a magistrate allowed Silvey to disable his social media applications, but not to delete any comments.

Silvey cannot leave WA or engage in any work involving children, is permitted internet access only for banking, medical or legal purposes, and is banned from accessing encrypted communication platforms.