Daniel O'Brien 40

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Daniel O'Brien, 38, had almost 40,000 indecent images of children

A Wigan dad has been jailed for downloading almost 40,000 indecent images of children after he was caught out by a paedophile sting operation.

Daniel O'Brien, 38, appeared at Bolton Crown Court on Friday morning, February 25, to face sentence for his crimes after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

Timothy Ashmole, prosecuting, told the court that O'Brien had been caught out for his crimes after starting a conversation with an undercover National Crime Agency officer on Wickr, a secure instant messaging service owned by Amazon Web Services, in March 2020.

The officer was posing as a young single mother called Holly, claiming to have two daughters aged six and eight.

O'Brien, who went by the username Monkeystew24, quickly turned the conversation sexual, telling "Holly" that when his young daughter, aged two at the time, was old enough he wanted her to "play" with his genitals.

He then told the undercover officer, whom he understood to be a single mother, that he would like to perform sexual acts on her daughters, saying he would enjoy sexual activity with both her and her daughters.

The pair's contact then moved to KiK instant messenger on April 11 2020, where O'Brien set out sexual desires towards "Holly"'s two children, asking for photographs of them for his own sexual pleasure.

However, when interviewed, O'Brien told police this was all part of a roleplay, as he believed "Holly" may be an adult man also engaging in fantasy, and he had no intent to actually commit sexual offenses with a child.

Mr Ashmole went on to say O'Brien had sent 21 sexual images of children to "Holly", starting with pictures showing young children in lingerie, before moving on to more sexually explicit images that showed sexual offenses being committed against youngsters.

Officers were able to link the username to a BT account at a home in Standish, that O'Brien shared with his wife and two children.

When police raided the house, O'Brien retrieved a phone from a pillowcase and handed it to officers, telling them: "I think you might want to see this, there's things on there you'll want to see."

A total of 18 digital devices were retrieved from the house, including phones, laptops, and hard drives.

Four of them contained sexually explicit pictures of children and images showing bestiality, although O'Brien noted that none of these images were stored on devices that were used by his wife or children.

Officers found around 40,000 indecent pictures and videos of children, including almost 1,900 category A images showing the most severe sexual abuse against children.

O'Brien admitted a sexual interest in teenage girls aged 14-15 had developed years earlier, around 2010, and he had been accessing indecent images for a large portion of time.

Paul Treble, defending, told the court O'Brien had lost his relationship, access to his children, and his job as an adult social carer as a result of legal proceedings.

He also said his client had been engaging with organisations including Stop It Now and Safer Lives, groups that work with people to prevent them from partaking in child sexual offences.

His Honour Judge Tom Gilbart, presiding, sentenced O'Brien to two years imprisonment for the possession and distribution of indecent images of children.

Addressing O'Brien, Judge Gilbart said: "The number of images you distributed was small but you were responsible for the further dissemination of this material.

"The number of images you downloaded was significant and the offending was spread over a substantial period of time.

"You developed an attraction towards teenage girls and began to discuss sexual fantasies towards children in chatrooms.

"Appropriate punishment can only be achieved through an immediate custodial sentence."

O'Brien was jailed for two years.

He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for ten years, barred from working with children and vulnerable adults, and will have a sexual prevention order placed against him for ten years.