Pensioner, 78, jailed over child sex abuse images found on computer during repair

A pensioner from County Clare received a lengthy prison sentence after thousands of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse were discovered when he dropped his computer into a store to be repaired.

Maurice Snowdon, aged 78, of Ogonnelloe, Scariff, told gardai “watching child pornography was a phase he went through” and he likened it to his hobbies of organ music and fixing lamps.

The investigating garda told Limerick Criminal Circuit Court the accused had an “extensive and unusual knowledge of the dark web”.

Judge Colin Daly said in every image there is a child who has been “the victim of the most egregious form of exploitation and abuse”.

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Mr Snowdon pleaded guilty to four charges of possession of child pornography, contrary to the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

Prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan, instructed by State solicitor Padraig Mawe, outlined the evidence with the assistance of Garda John O’Sullivan.

Mr O’Sullivan BL said the manager of the then Compu B store at O’Connell Street in Limerick city requested gardai to attend the shop on October 10, 2019.

“Mr Snowdon had left an Apple MacBook Air in to be repaired. Staff discovered two images of child abuse in the iTunes library on the hard drive,” said Mr O’Sullivan BL.

Gardai subsequently executed a search warrant at Mr Snowdon’s address in  Ogonnelloe and seized three Apple computers and an SD card.

The devices were sent for expert analysis. Mr O’Sullivan BL said a total of 11,583 child sexual abuse files, including images and 14 hours of videos were seized.

Mr Snowdon was arrested and asked by gardai for his definition of a child. 

“He told gardai, ‘Up to 14 years’.  He admitted watching child pornography and said it was a phase he went through,” said Mr O’Sullivan BL.

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The investigating officer - Garda O’Sullivan said Mr Snowdon “likened it to his hobbies of organ music and fixing lamps”.

The barrister said Mr Snowdon seemed to believe he should be allowed to move on from this whole phase, that he had deleted the files and believed they were gone.

Mr O’Sullivan BL said Mr Snowdon, who lived alone, had significant knowledge of computers.

“His working knowledge of the dark web was extensive and unusual,” said Garda O’Sullivan, who added that Mr Snowdon showed “no remorse”.

Garda O’Sullivan said Mr Snowdon refused to shed any knowledge on how he accessed and accumulated the child sexual abuse images and videos.

The court heard Mr Snowdon has no previous convictions, is a qualified electrical engineer and has no immediate family in Ireland.

Pat Barriscale BL, who represented Mr Snowdon, said his client has pleaded guilty, it occurred five-and-a-half-years ago and the accused hasn’t come to garda attention since.

The barrister put it to the garda that Mr Snowdon did not share the images.

“Not as far as we can tell,” said Garda O’Sullivan

Mr Barriscale said that as far as his client was concerned the images were deleted.

“He was in no way involved in the production or distribution,” said Mr Barriscale,.

The barrister cited a detailed and positive report from the Probation Service and that his client has gone for counselling.

“He now appears with the benefit of counselling to appreciate exactly who the victims are in this case and he has a most significant problem,” said Mr Barriscale, who asked Judge Colin Daly to allow his client to continue with counselling.

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Judge Daly, in sentencing, said Mr Snowdon deliberately sought out this material on the dark web. 

“In every image there is a child who has been the victim of the most egregious form of exploitation and abuse. He has shown very little empathy for any of the victims of which there are many,” said Judge Daly.

The judge said the mitigating factors were that the images were not shared by Mr Snowdon and that he was not part of a group, is coming up on his 79th birthday, pleaded guilty and has not come to garda attention since 2019.

Having read the probation report, the judge said he is not entirely convinced these interventions have had a real or significant impact on Mr Snowdon’s empathy to the victims in this case. 

Judge Daly imposed an 18-month jail sentence with the last six months suspended.  

Post-release, Mr Snowdon will be placed under the supervision of the Probation Service. 

He was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.