Man 'driven' to search for own abuse gets suspended sentence

Anthony Daly was sentenced at Londonderry Crown Court on Friday

A man who a judge said had been driven to search online for images of his younger self being abused has been given an eight-month suspended jail sentence.

Anthony Daly, 70, of Carmoney Park in Campsie admitted a total of 12 charges of making indecent images of children on dates between June 23 2022 and August 27 2022.

Londonderry Crown Court was told Daly had once claimed in a book that he had been sexually abused and exploited by influential figures in London in the 1970s.

Sentencing, judge Roseanne McCormick said he had been "driven to search for images of his 20-year-old self who went to London and was exploited and abused."

The court was told the offences came to light when devices belonging to Daly were seized.

However while there was evidence of the images on the devices there was no evidence of searches for indecent images, the court heard.

A total of 326 images were found on Daly's devices, including 45 category A images, 69 category B and 212 category C.

Judge McCormick said that Daly had "troubling experiences" as a child and had a close friend shot dead on Bloody Sunday.

'Highly specific set of circumstances'

He went to London aged 20, the judge said, and while there he claimed he was "drugged and raped" by older men in positions of power and "exploited significantly".

The defendant denied having any sexual interest in children and there was no evidence of searching for such material.

The judge told the court the case had "a highly specific set of circumstances which are exceptional" and therefore she would impose an exceptional sentence.

Daly was given eight months in prison suspended for three years.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offender's Register for 10 years and had a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for the same period.