Bantry Paedophile suspect released

national | crime and justice | news report Friday March 05, 2004 09:40 by JMcK jimmymac61 at hotmail dot com

West Cork not safe for children!

A 24 yo male suspect was released without charge late last night after being questioned about the production of child pornography. He is suspected of distributing hundreds of images on the internet.

Members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation based at Harcourt Square in Dublin yesterday descended on the West Cork office of a paedophile suspected of producing and distributing images of boys and girls on the internet. The raid was the culmination of many months of surveillance by the NBCI .

The man, a native of Bantry, has extensive connections through family and business interests with the tourist industry and businesses supplying service to tourists, including accomodation in and around the Bantry/Castletown/Schull area of West Cork.

He was foremost among those who welcomed the USS Sullivans to Castletown last summer as part of the US Military propaganda drive to recruit more "Irish" in the US to the "war on terrorism".

Hundreds of child pornography images produced by the man may have been distributed to others on the internet and it was through one of these contacts that the Harcourt Square unit identified the man. A young boy a possibly two girls have already been identified from the many hundreds of images seized on the mans computer and other equipment seizes in Castletownbere.

Under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act it is an offence to produce, distribute or possess images of child pornography. A file has been sent to the DPP and charges may be taken depending on how much "pull" is brought into play .

The man had been photographing children in secret and without their knowledge while they holidayed in West Cork. It is not understood if all tourist accomodation connected with this man will be swept for "hidden cameras", as such an operation might mean obtaining search warrants for the premisis of some rather prominent business people in the South West Region.