Man caught with child abuse images gets six years

A MAN repeatedly caught with child abuse images and who exposed himself to children on their way to school has been jailed for six years.

Barry Watters, 42, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of indecency in Dublin in December 2014, and possession of the images at Middle Abbey Street, Dublin, on October 20, 2016.

Detective Garda Cian Farrelly said that in October 2016 he spotted Watters entering an internet café in the city centre.

Plain clothes gardaí were able to observe a live feed of what Watters was viewing by using a master computer in the café. He was switching between images of scantily clad children and social media and dating sites with conversations about how to access ‘good pictures’.

Watters handed over a USB key when confronted by gardaí and it was found to contain 23 illegal images of child abuse images and 422 images of children in various states of undress.

Judge Martina Baxter imposed a seven-year jail term in consecutive sentences, with the final 12 months suspended for two years on strict conditions.