A “PORNOGRAPHY addict” who was caught with more than 1,000 images and videos of children being raped and posing naked has been given a three-year suspended sentence at Dublin Criminal Court.
Sam Wiltshire (31) printed off more than 200 child pornography images in the photo developing shop where he worked. Gardaí also found he was sharing images over peer-to-peer networks using programmes such as Limewire.
Judge Tony Hunt told Wiltshire he should consider himself “extremely fortunate” to receive a suspended sentence and ordered him to continue his group psychotherapy treatment at the Granada Institute which treats sexual offenders.
The judge acknowledged Wilshire had come from a respectable family, had made efforts to rehabilitate himself and that most of the child porn material seized by gardaí had been at the lower end of the seriousness scale.
He also accepted that the material had been for personal use.
Wiltshire pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography at his Cedarbrook Walk home in Ballyfermot on December 12th, 2008.
Det Garda James O’Donnell told prosecuting counsel, Melanie Greally, that an investigation in the Netherlands into a child pornography website showed several Irish users of the site, including Wiltshire. Search warrants were obtained for his home and his place of work in the pharmacy in Superquinn on Sundrive Road, Crumlin.
When gardaí called to his home, Wiltshire showed them his computer which contained the pornography. A large amount of computer equipment was seized which included a laptop, a computer hard drive and 16 CDs. A holdall bag was also found at the rear of the house which contained 210 photos of naked children.
Computer equipment was also seized from the pharmacy but no pornography was found on it.
Images and videos showing children as young as seven were found by the Garda Computer Crime Investigation Unit. Some of the videos showed adults raping young children. Through his job at the pharmacy he had sole access to the photo processing equipment and printed off images for his own use. Philipp Rahn, defending, said Wiltshire had co-operated fully with gardaí and had never been in trouble before. He said he had made great progress in treating his condition.