A CONVICTED sex offender who hoarded more than 35,000 child pornography images and movie files after downloading the material in internet cafes has been given a two-year jail term.
Adrian Savage (48), Millward Terrace, Meath Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, who has a master’s degree in philosophy, was attending a clinical psychologist when he continued to access the material.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of possessing child pornography between September 15th, 2007, and May 19th, 2009.
Savage received a three-year suspended sentence in June 2004 after he pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of child pornography on February 9th, 2002.
Judge Patricia Ryan said she noted his two previous convictions for similar offences and that he had undergone a treatment programme but had reoffended.
Judge Ryan said she was taking into account his expression of remorse, his shame, his admissions to gardaí, his co-operation in searches of the premises and that he was hoarding rather than viewing images.
She said a custodial sentence was merited “to mark the seriousness of the case” and the maximum sentence was five years.
The judge handed down a three-year sentence, suspending the last year of it for three years, and ordered that he be supervised by the probation services for 18 months.
Granada Institute assistant director Dr Patrick Randall, who assessed Savage, described his offending behaviour as “absolutely bizarre” and “something deeper-seated than a sexual attraction”.
He told Philipp Rahn, defending, that Savage’s “primary activity was the collecting and hoarding of the images”.
Dr Randall told Judge Ryan he felt Savage had “anger towards society due to his estrangement from it” and this may have been the motivation behind hoarding such “horrendous items that are so disliked by society”.
He described it as “a stand-alone case” and the most unusual one he had ever dealt with.
Savage downloaded many of the images on to USB keys while in internet cafes and at times did not own a computer or anything to view the material on. The images were found on a number of CDs and DVDs, a laptop, a hard drive, 17 photo albums and six USB keys.
They were analysed by gardaí and found to contain 34,699 images and 460 movies, all depicting young girls, some as young as two years.
The children depicted were either engaged in sexual activity, including penetrative sex with men, or photographed naked with their genitalia exposed.
Prosecuting gardaí in the case accepted Savage’s offending “was part of an addictive and compulsive behaviour”.
Savage told Det Garda Chris Cahill on arrest in 2008: “Yes, guard. It is true. It is not my fault, it’s an addiction.”
Dr Randall said he assessed Savage as being an articulate and intelligent man, who had “disenfranchised himself from society” and was “significantly depressed”. He described Savage as a loner, who had friends for very brief periods in college.
Mr Rahn asked Judge Ryan to take into account the fact Savage had not shared or distributed the items nor had he paid for them.