Mayo man found with huge haul of child porn

Mayo man found with huge haul of child porn


Over 130,000 images found on computer

Declan Brennan

A man who had one of the largest collections of child pornography ever found by the Gardaí will be sentenced after he undergoes psychiatric evaluation.
The 133,553 images and 1,992 videos found on James Clarke’s computer included images showing severe child sex abuse involving bondage, cruelty and bestiality. The child porn was organised into computer folders by themes and individuals and Clarke was using an Internet site to offer the images to others.
At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Clarke (58) of Devlis Cottage, Ballyhaunis, pleaded guilty to four counts of knowingly distributing child pornography at Russell View Square, Tallaght, Dublin, on separate dates in August 2010. He also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography at the same address on August 20, 2010.
Detective Garda Cathal Delaney told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that the files found on Clarke’s computer drives were the “the largest collection of child porn” he had ever found up to that date.
He said the materials included sexual activity involving children with children, children with adults and children with animals. He said some of these victims were infants.
He said that Clarke was using Gigatribe, a legitimate social-networking site which he compared to Facebook, to distribute these images. The court heard that Clarke would restrict access to his files to other users who were sharing files.
Det Gda Delaney said that warnings about sharing files and an invitation to others to “enjoy the files you use” was repeated in a number of languages.
He said that Clarke was also using an email account to speak to a woman about keeping her and her 14-year-old daughter as sex slaves.
Garda Christopher O’Leary told Ms McGowan that Clarke has a previous conviction for sex with a minor in 1977. Defence counsel Kitty Perle BL said Clarke claimed he was only aged around 20 at the time and the girl was 14.
Ms Perle said her client had previously suffered from depression and had attempted suicide a number of times. She said that since then Clarke had overcome his depression and set up a security firm. She said a car accident in 2003 caused him another set back and he began spending “many many hours” on the computer at home on his own.
She said he began browsing adult porn and that curiosity led him to child porn and that this quickly became out of control.
Judge Patricia Ryan said this is a very serious case and ordered that a psychiatric report be produced for the court. She remanded Clarke in custody at Arbour Hill for sentencing on October 26.