Man caught with child sex abuse images after avoiding jail for similar offences

Bryan Dunne, 43, of Hyde Park Lodge in Killucan, Co Westmeath, pleaded guilty to possessing 745 images and videos at his home on September 19, 2023.

These offences, in breach of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, occurred two years after he was sentenced to three years and nine months’ suspended imprisonment and severely punished.

Judge Keenan Johnson heard Dunne at Mullingar District Court, who admitted he was sexually attracted to pre-pubescent girls.

The abusive material was located in a folder he had had on his Dropbox account since 2018, a remote online storage service.

He gained access to it in June last year. It contained graphic photos and videos of girls aged 7 to 14 with their genitals exposed or being sexually abused.

In April 2021, he was previously given a suspended sentence of three years and nine months for similar offences relating to distributing child abuse material in 2016 and 2017. The sentence was suspended for 10 years while he completed the Safer Lives programme for sex offenders and undertook counselling.

However, he told police that when he opened the Dropbox folder in the middle of the night, he was “overwhelmed” and wanted to “end it all.”

Dunne cried in court as he told Judge Keenan Johnson he had the file from 2018, when he was heavily abusing cocaine. He said he opened it once after his conviction, looking for other non-illegal photos.

He added that it happened one night when he was planning to take his own life after learning new information about the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.

Dunne, who had completed a training course in home heating installation, also had outstanding work around the house but had not been paid and was nervous about not having money for a family holiday.

The court heard he had been drinking alcohol, which was another breach of his probation as alcohol was a “trigger” for his behaviour.

He planned to end it all, took pills and alcohol and didn’t expect to wake up the next morning. He told gardaí: “I tried to kill myself. Life keeps throwing me off the ladder,” and opened his Dropbox.

Detective Sergeant Eric Naughton, of Athlone Garda Protection Unit, said Dunne’s arrest came after the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States discovered someone had accessed a Dropbox file containing images and videos of the abuse.

NCMEC found the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the device and the associated email address used to access the footage. The information was passed on to police who were able to link it to Dunne at a previous address in Castleknock, Dublin 15. In September 2023, when police went to his home in Killucan, he still had the folder in his online account.

Judge Johnson noted that he made no attempt to remove the material.

He adjourned the start date of his sentence so that Dunne could get his affairs in order and report to Mullingar Police Station at noon on July 31 to be taken to prison to serve his sentence.

He also faces the risk that his previously issued suspended sentence will be reviewed by the court and restarted.

Judge Johnson delayed the start date until July 1 to allow Dunne to get his affairs in order. He ordered him to report to Mullingar Garda Station at noon and be taken to prison to serve his sentence.

He also faces the risk that his previously issued suspended sentence will be reviewed by the court and restarted.