Locations
Priory Street, Cardigan, Wales, SA43 1BT
Description
Jack Quinn was a member of online groups which used a secure, encrypted app to "trade" images of children being sexually abused.
A chef was running an online group for fellow paedophiles where they shared and commented on pictures of child abuse, a court has heard.
Some of the photos and videos Jack Quinn downloaded from the internet showed babies being sexually abused.
The defendant was a member of several groups where people exchanged vile photos and videos, and was an administrator in charge of one of them.
Swansea Crown Court heard that shortly before 9am on the morning of November 20 last year police executed a search warrant at the defendant's house in Pembrokeshire - present at the property was Quinn, his partner, and his young child.
James Hartson, prosecuting, said officers seized an Acer laptop computer and a Samsung mobile phone, and a quick check of the devices showed the presence of indecent images. The defendant was arrested and taken to Aberystwyth police station where he admitted accessing adult pornography but said any indecent images could have been downloaded accidentally.
The court heard that when Quinn's phone and laptop were forensically examined hundreds of pictures and videos showing the sexual abuse of babies and children were found of Categories A - the most extreme kind - B and C. Another 59,000 images were not categorised by officers.
Mr Hartson said the police also found large numbers of online conversations in an encrypted messenger app - an app which detectives asked not be named in open court due to an on-going investigation - which allowed users to exchange messages and photos "in total anonymity". Quinn had two accounts on the app, and in one of them had adopted the identity of a 17-year-old girl. The court heard the 29-year-old defendant was an administrator and an "active member" of one online groups, and had initiated many of the exchanges or "trades" of images of child sexual abuse with fellow members.
Jack William Quinn, now of Priory Street, Cardigan, Ceredigion, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent images - Categories A, B and C - and three counts of distribution of indecent images - again of Categories A, B and C - when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.
Ian Ibrahim, for Quinn, said following his arrest the defendant had referred himself to an alcohol charity, and had cut his consumption from 15 pints of beer a day to six or eight. He said his client was deeply ashamed of his behaviour and its impact on his family, had lost his career as a chef, and was now "a broken man".
With discounts for his guilty pleas recorder Christopher Clee QC sentenced Quinn to a total of 32 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order designed to control his use of the internet.