A father of two who had 219 images of child pornography on his workplace computer has been fined €1,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Gerard Sheridan (38) was caught after one of his managers replaced an ink cartridge in a copier, and printouts which came out included one of a child performing oral sex on a man.
Judge Desmond Hogan said he had received a positive report from the Granada Institute. Sheridan was supported by his family and had co-operated with gardaí. He also had never come to Garda attention before or since his crime was uncovered.
Judge Hogan said while Sheridan's offending was at the lower end of the scale it was still a serious matter which merited a fine and a custodial term. He suspended the custodial term on conditions which include that Sheridan follow the therapy directions of the Probation and Welfare Services.
Det Sgt Liam Kelly told senior counsel Pauline Walley, prosecuting, that the material from the copier was held in its memory when ink had run out.
Sheridan, of Meadow Drive, Hartstown, Dublin, pleaded guilty to possession of the images over a six-month period from March 2nd, 2003, to October 4th, 2003.
Det Sgt Kelly said the first printouts to appear were images of naked women. The manager was going to discard them and not follow it up but noted the last picture was of a child performing oral sex on a man.
The material was reported to senior management. An internal investigation revealed that the images had originated from Sheridan's computer.
Det Sgt Kelly said a search of Sheridan's locker at work revealed further child pornography. The company reported the incident to gardaí on October 4th. Analysis of the hard drive on Sheridan's computer revealed 214 images depicting children under the age of 17 in various poses.
Det Sgt Kelly agreed with Ms Walley that Sheridan was entirely co-operative with gardaí, giving them information on his computer passwords and the name of the websites he accessed. He made full admission to having the pornography despite the fact that others had access to his computer.