Detectives uncover 'online sex abuse ring'

'He was discovered when the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received a report that two images of children had been uploaded to an IP address' (stock image)

Stephen Maguire

December 13 2020 02:30 AM

A Donegal man discussed watching and sharing videos of hundreds of children being sexually abused with nine other people on a Skype call as they trawled the dark web, Donegal Circuit Court heard on Friday evening.

David Kelly, a 48-year-old married man from Bundoran, appeared before the court facing seven counts of possession and distribution of child pornography. Kelly, of Magheracar Cottages, was caught with more than 2,000 sexually explicit images of children and more than 180 movies containing serious sexual abuse.

He was discovered when the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received a report that two images of children had been uploaded to an IP address. Gardaí traced the IP address to a house and found David Kelly as he ran to the bathroom with a tablet computer and phone. Gardaí accessed the computer and Kelly made full admissions.

Kelly provided gardaí with details of his activities, including that of another man in Dublin. The man was secretly filming his stepdaughter as he abused her and was sharing the images and videos online with others.

Detective Garda Mark Deavin told the court that this other man has since been convicted in the courts.

He revealed how Kelly and the other man, who cannot be named, shared 84 files between two online accounts; 74 of these were sent from Kelly and the Dublin man sent 10 files back. The files contained images of sexual abuse as well as movies of children being sexually abused.

Barrister for Kelly, Declan McHugh, said his client has expressed remorse and is "ashamed of what he has done". Judge John Aylmer adjourned the case for sentencing until next week.