Child porn probe man still in west Cork

THE man at the centre of a major child pornography investigation has not moved out of west Cork, despite local concerns about allegations he had taken sexually explicit pictures of young girls and posted them on the internet.

People living in Castletownbere were shocked yesterday morning to learn that the man in his mid 20s had been interviewed in their local garda station by a team of detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

However, it emerged later in the day that the young man was not from the area, although he does live in another village in west Cork. He was taken to Castletownbere Garda Station because the district headquarters in Bantry didn’t have the necessary interview room facilities.

It is understood that two girls have been questioned by gardaí as part of the ongoing investigation and detectives believe they may have to interview even more.

Councillor Noel Harrington said local people were very shocked when they heard the news and it was quite right that parents in particular should have expressed concern.

“However, we have to be sensitive to this issue. The family of the alleged perpetrator are no doubt also suffering over this. They’ll be devastated,” Cllr Harrington said.

Gardaí seized the computer equipment owned by the man and will send it to Dublin for analysis. They are also expected to seek assistance from the COPINE team, based at University College Cork, which specialises in combating paedophiles using the internet.

The man was released without charge and gardaí are now preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecution, who is expected to make a decision on the case in the next few weeks.

The ISPCC has expressed concern about the case. The organisation said yesterday it believes there may be many people in this country who are actively involved in taking indecent pictures of young children and sending them via the internet.