Cork man jailed after suspended sentence for possession of child porn deemed 'too lenient'

A “quiet and shy” Cork man has been sent to jail for possessing 1,027 images of child pornography after his original suspended sentence was deemed too lenient.

Greg Lordan, 29, of Parish Field, Clonakilty, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to possessing child pornography at his home on February 16, 2017.

He was given a wholly suspended three-year sentence by Judge Seán O’Donnabháin on November 9, 2018, which was found to be “unduly lenient” by the Court of Appeal today.

Giving judgment on the appeal brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said gardaí executed a warrant at Lordan's house in February, 2017, where he made admissions.

In particular, Lordan admitted that he had an old mobile phone which contained child porn, which he had accessed the previous day. He had been accessing the material for two years.

Mr Justice McCarthy said Lordan cooperated with gardaí in the subsequent search and handed over the phone, which was located in his bedroom.

The phone contained 638 images of child nudity where children aged between three or four and 12 or 13 were seen to have exposed genitalia.

Another 386 images depicted male and female children aged three or four and 13 or 14 engaged in sexual activity with an adult or other children.

A further three images were found depicting a child aged seven or eight engaged in sexual activity with an animal.

Mr Justice McCarthy said there were five categories of seriousness for child porn images. In ascending order, they were: Erotic posing; Solo sexual activity; Non-penetrative sexual activity between adults and children; Penetrative sexual activity between children and adults; Sadism or bestiality.

The judge said three images found of Lordan’s phone fell into the most serious category, 638 fell into the first category and 386 fell into the third category.

Lordan had no previous convictions and was not known to gardaí. He is in a relationship and currently lives in Spain, the judge said.

Lordan 'sincerely remorseful'

Subsequent to detection, he contacted a psychologist and underwent therapy. The psychologist stated that Lordan was now “sincerely remorseful” and was aware of the abusive nature of the pornography as well as its consequences for the victims.

The psychologist stated that Lordan was not a paedophile although that was “at variance” with the psychologist’s reference to his “derivation of sexual pleasure from viewing” the material, Mr Justice McCarthy said.

Lordan was also described as someone who was very quiet and shy, who struggled with severe social anxiety and insecurity, was bullied at school and has dysfunctional coping mechanisms.

Mr Justice McCarthy said the sentencing judge had regard to all relevant mitigating factors including Lordan’s guilty plea, his cooperation and return from Spain to meet the case, his good work history, the fact he was bullied and isolated at school and that he had undertaken psychotherapy of his own volition.

The Director of Public Prosecutions submitted that the sentencing judge failed to have sufficient regard to the necessity for general deterrence, in other words, the need to send the message out to society that offending conduct of this type will not be tolerated.

Mr Justice McCarthy said it seemed to the Court of Appeal that this was one of those cases where a custodial sentence was appropriate.

He said the sentencing judge fell into error in suspending the entirety of the sentence. The appropriate headline sentence remained one of three years but the court would suspend the final two years rather than all three.

Mr Justice McCarthy, who sat with President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, resentenced Lordan to three years imprisonment with the final two suspended.

He was required to enter into a good behaviour bond for the suspended period and he undertook to be so bound, before being taken immediately into custody.