A Co. Mayo man. who had one of the largest collections of child pornography ever found by gardai, has been jailed for 8 years.
James Clarke of Devlis Cottage in Ballyhaunis had more than 135,000 images and videos on his computer including shots of bondage, cruelty and bestiality.
Some of the images showed infants and children engaging in sexual activity with each other, adults and animals.
In this case he not only admitted possessing child pornography, he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 4 charges of knowingly distributing the material at Russell View Square, Tallaght in Dublin on dates in August 2010.
He used legitimate social networking site, gigatribe, to offer the images to others.
Previous conviction for sex with a minor
The court heard Clarke also used an e-mail account to speak to a woman about keeping her and her 14-year-old daughter as sex slaves.
The 58-year-old has a previous conviction for sex with a minor in 1977 when he was around 20.
The girl was 14 years of age.
Defence Counsel Kitty Perle, BL, said her client had previously suffered from depression and had attempted suicide a number of times.
She said he had overcome his depression and set up a security firm until a car accident in 2003 caused him another set back and he began spending 'many many hours' on the computer at home on his own.
Judge Patricia Ryan imposed a 10-year sentence on James Clarke but suspended the final 2 years.
