Paedophile had 39,000 pictures of child sex abuse
AMAN who downloaded tens of thousands of pictures of children being sexually abused told police who came to his door with a search warrant: “I know what you are here about.”
Barry O’Dare amassed more than 39,000 indecent photographs over a nine-year period, with some of the victims in the photos being as young as three years old.
The defendant also had more than 1,000 images of so-called extreme pornography on his computer featuring bestiality.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that acting on intelligence, police executed a search warrant at 60-yearold O’Dare’s house in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, in September last year.
Nik Strobl, prosecuting, said when officers explained why they were there and cautioned the defendant, he replied: “Yes, I know what you are here for.”
A preliminary examination of O’Dare’s desktop computer showed the presence of indecent images, and he was arrested.
The court heard that a full search of the computer revealed a total of more than 39,000 such images including 1,767 Category A images
showing the most serious kinds of sexual abuse.
The youngest children in the photographs were estimated to be aged around three.
Also on the computer were more than 1,000 prohibited images – such pictures typically show sexual cartoon or computer-generated type images – and more than 1,000 pictures of bestiality with dogs, cows, fish and eels.
The court heard investigators also found sophisticated filedownloading applications on the computer along with software capable of wiping the hard drive.
Barry O’Dare, of Queen’s Drive, Culverhouse Cross, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent images, one of possessing prohibited images, and one of possessing extreme pornography when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.
Martha Higgins-Smith, for O’Dare, said the defendant led a “very isolated, very lonely life”, and was remorseful for what he had done.
She said that what began with an interest in legal adult pornography developed into viewing other kinds of images thanks to misplaced curiosity, and that O’Dare “accepts that his addiction got out of hand”.
She added it was not clear why it had taken 11 months from the defendant making admissions in interview to him being charged.
Recorder IWL Jones told O’Dare the children in the images he had downloaded were real children being sexually abused in order to fulfil an online demand which people like him created.
The recorder told the defendant it was clear the offending had been driven by O’Dare’s “selfish sexual gratification”.
With the required one-third discount for this guilty pleas, the judge sentenced O’Dare to 12 months in prison.
He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years.