Creaven at his wife’s birthday 2 days before ‘meeting girl’
Colleagues tell of ‘shocked silence’ in RTE as gardaí arrived at off ice to seize his computer
HE was the archetypal gentleman – courteous, professional and selfeffacing.
Colleagues describe him as ‘completely dependable’ and ‘someone who would always give you a hand out’. So when gardaí arrived in the RTÉ sports department at 9am last Monday, hours before Kieran Creaven had even appeared in court in Leeds, there was ‘a shocked silence’.
‘That’s the only way I can describe it, the place just went quiet and it stayed like that for the day,’ said one colleague. ‘We’d seen the video on Facebook but I don’t think we quite believed it until the guards arrived and took away his computer, all his stuff, everything.’
Later that morning, 55-year-old Creaven appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court after a sting by a paedophile shaming group caught him apparently attempting to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex.
The court heard that Creaven, who is married, had sent a picture of his penis to a girl he believed to be 13 years old. He also told her he wanted to go to bed with her and that he was ‘horny’.
He was charged with two offences. The first is for attempting to meet a child under the age of 16 at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, following grooming between July 1 and November 18 this year. The second is for attempting to cause or incite a girl of 13 to engage in sexual activity between the same dates.
In fact, the ‘girl’ Creaven had been speaking to on the internet under his assumed Facebook profile, Jimi Cee, was a middle-aged woman and part of the paedophile hunting organisation.
The case of the senior RTÉ sports producer – who has covered big events worldwide for the past 20 years and who liked to post selfies of himself with sporting greats such as Katie Taylor and jockey AP McCoy as well as the late Jimmy McGee – was sent to the Crown Court to appear on December 18.
Creaven was bailed and allowed to return to Dublin where he lives with his Portuguese wife, Diana Gouveia.
Two days before he had flown to Leeds for his ill-fated rendezvous, he had thrown a birthday party for his wife to which several of his colleagues were invited.
He had even mentioned his upcoming trip, which seemed unremarkable as he is a Leeds United fan and the club were playing at home to Middlesbrough last Sunday. He said he had a ticket for the game.
Originally from Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, Creaven lives with his wife in an apartment in a restored Georgian house on Dublin’s northside. The couple rent out a room of their apartment on Airbnb and also own another property near Dublin’s Blessington Street Basin.
On the Airbnb profile for their sunny well-appointed apartment, they describe themselves as an Irish/ Portuguese couple who enjoy living in the ‘multi-ethnic area’.
Guests posted warm reviews of the property, commenting particularly on the welcome Creaven and his wife had given them. ‘Kieran and Diana are great, welcoming hosts. Kieran met us off the bus from the airport and guided us to his place, even helping with the luggage. They are sociable and friendly,’ said one. Another past guest wrote: ‘Well, there is nothing to think about, just book this accommodation. Kieran and Diana were extremely kind and open-minded.’
But Airbnb has now confirmed to the Irish Mail on Sunday that the couple are no longer hosts.
Friends of the pair say they feel most sorry for Diana and describe her as ‘lovely’ with ‘a huge social conscience’. She has a PhD in anthropology from Maynooth University and has worked in the area of refugee rights for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. On the cover of her 2014 PhD thesis, she has a dedication: ‘Finally, I thank Kieran Creaven, my husband and my best friend... I think that says it all.’
In Ballinasloe this week, there was also shock at the allegations against Creaven, a member of a well-known family from the Creagh area.
His father, Jack, and four of his uncles played for Ballinasloe and Loughrea hurling teams.
His father also worked as a nurse at the local psychiatric hospital and his relative, John Creaven, owned the landmark Hayden’s Hotel in the town.
‘Thank God, his parents aren’t alive to see it, that’s all,’ said one local man. ‘I feel very sorry for all of his relatives.’
Told her he wanted to go to bed with her ‘I feel very sorry for all of his relatives’