PAEDOPHILE WHO DISCUSSED CHILD RAPE IS SET FREE
He had stash of sex abuse images and he fantasised about incest
A PERVERT who shared child rape fantasies with other paedophiles online has walked free from court after gardaí said no children had been hurt.
Anthony Woodley, 37, also had child abuse images on his computer, including images of young girls involved ‘in sexual activity’ and others in indecent poses.
It emerged the Canadian police had tipped off gardaí about Woodley yet it took five years for the material on his computer to be examined.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin yesterday criticised the ‘inexcusable’ delay and warned that insufficient importance is being attached to the investigation of such files.
It was one of several cases of late where judges noted it was taking gardaí
years to analyse abuse images found on the computers of paedophiles.
Woodley, formerly from Killala, but now living at Cornaroya, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, is the latest paedophile whose case involved sharing fantasies and child abuse images to have been given a suspended sentence by the courts.
He was given a two-year suspended jail sentence at the Circuit Criminal Court in Castlebar, Co. Mayo yesterday.
Gardaí seized secret emails between Woodley and other paedophiles around the world. They shared their fantasies about child rape and child incest while using fake online profiles.
Woodley was detected after police in Alberta, Canada, raided a paedophile in Woodley’s network and alerted the gardaí through Interpol.
Detective Garda Sergeant Gerry Lee told the court there was no evidence that Woodley abused children. He told the court that as a result of information from Alberta Police Child Protection Unit gardaí got a warrant in October 2011 to search the premises where Woodley lived in Killala.
Computer equipment seized, which included a laptop, hard drive and external drive, showed images of young girls in sexual activity and images of other girls in indecent poses. Officers also found details of conversations between Woodley and other online users on subjects including child rape and child incest.
Sgt Lee agreed there was no child abused by Woodley.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Diarmuid Connolly, Sgt Lee agreed that Woodley had made full admissions and said the man’s family and partner were standing by him. Mr Connolly also said: ‘My client is anxious to pursue any rehabilitation.’
Before sentence, Judge Ó Donnabháin said he accepted the accused was fully remorseful, was disgusted by what he had done and had a ‘sad social history’.
He added: ‘More needs to be done to ensure he is fully rehabilitated and not a risk to anyone.’
Cliona Saidléar of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland told the Irish Daily Mail yesterday there was a victim in every child abuse image.
She said: ‘Once there is an image of a child, there is a child involved, there is a child being harmed.
‘To hold that image is to be party to that crime; it is part of abusing that child. It’s not distanced from
it. It is part of the process; it is part of that abuse.’
Last Thursday, in an unrelated case, two men who had sexually explicit online conversations – and who generated their own child abuse images – were given one-year suspended sentences because there was ‘no victim’ involved.
The pair discussed the taking of virginity and then progressed to graphic conversations of fantasy rape of girls, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Carl Byrne, 28, of Glasnevin Downs, Dublin, and Aidan Lawlor, 36, of Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co. Wicklow, both admitted to the possession, production and distribution of child pornography on March 7, 2013. Judge Martin Nolan also described their conversations as ‘lurid and obscene’.
In another unrelated case, in April a retired senior civil servant in the Department of Health and Children, who was caught in possession of nearly 60,000 child abuse images and videos, also avoided jail.
Brendan Phelan, 66, was given a suspended three-year sentence in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after admitting possessing child abuse images at his home.
Phelan, of Merrion Grove, Stillorgan Road, Blackrock, Co, Dublin, admitted to gardaí he had a ‘fair bit’ of child abuse material relating to young boys when his home was raided five years ago.
He is a retired principal officer with the Department of Health and Children, the court heard.
Most of the images and clips were ‘naturist’, the court heard, but others were of a more serious nature.
As with yesterday’s case, in this instance Judge Martin Nolan noted there was an ‘unfortunate delay’ in bringing the case to court due to a lack of resources within the Garda unit to analyse abuse images.
In November, a music teacher who had hundreds of child abuse images on his computer also received a suspended prison sentence.
Peter Jennings, 49, pleaded guilty to possessing them at his home in Dunsink, Finglas, Dublin. Again there was a long delay in analysing the images found of his computer.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard it took five years before the files found could be assessed due to of a lack of resources in the Garda computer crime unit.
Takes five years to analyse computers
TO suggest that there was no child involvement in the case of Anthony Woodley, the convicted paedophile who was found in possession of images of young girls engaged in sexual activity, is, frankly, a totally ludicrous and fallacious argument.
The notion that no child was harmed as a result of Mr Woodley’s predatory and illegal actions is completely wrong, for it is the very existence of people like Anthony Woodley that fuels an industry that feeds off the appalling abuse and exploitation of children all over the world.
The record must therefore be set straight in relation to this matter – when any paedophile accesses images that depict child sexual abuse, then those children have most certainly been involved in the matter, and have most definitely been cruelly exploited and severely damaged as a result.
To add insult to injury, it is also deeply shocking to discover that Mr Woodley walked free from court yesterday with nothing but a suspended sentence and the imposition of a probation provision by way of punishment for his appalling crime.
Just a few days ago, a respected GP in north Co. Dublin was given a 16-month jail sentence for defrauding the Revenue out of €100,000.
In this instance, the judge made it very clear that an example needed to be made, that the tax system relies on honesty and that anyone who abuses it will be properly punished.
The very same message must be sent to people who think they are doing no wrong when they access images of child abuse. For the truth of the matter is that they are doing horrendous wrong to the children on whom they prey by way of these online images.
It must be made crystal clear, therefore, that if people get caught accessing such images, then there will be no mercy whatsoever. They will go to jail.