Man caught with indecent images of children sentenced at Derry Crown Court

A Derry man who has written books alleging that he was 'exploited and abused' by 'privileged people' when he was 20 has been sentenced at Derry Crown Court for making indecent images of children. 

Anthony Daly (70) of Carmoney Park in Campsie admitted 12 charges of making indecent images of children on dates between June 23 2022 and August 27 2022.

The court heard that the offences came to light when devices belonging to Daly were seized.

But it was said while there was evidence of the images being on the devices there was no evidence of searches for indecent images. 

In total there were 326 images with 45 being category A the most serious, 69 category B and 212 category C.

Judge Roseanne McCormick KC said that the defendant had published works detailing his experiences of being sexually abused during his sojourn in London in the 1970s.

He had claimed that he had accessed the images as part of a search to see if there were any images in existence of himself being exploited.

Judge McCormick said that Daly had had 'troubling experiences' as a child and had a close friend shot dead on Bloody Sunday. 

He went to London aged 20 and while there he claimed he was 'drugged and raped' by older men in positions of power and 'exploited significantly'.

The defendant denied having any sexual interest in children and there was no evidence of searching for such material. 

The judge said that this case involved hundreds of images unlike many cases involving thousands.

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She said the defendant had received help for his offending and apart from these offences seemed to have led 'a blameless productive life'.

Judge McCormick said Daly had been 'driven to search for images of his 20-year-old self who went to London and was exploited and abused'.

She described the case as having 'a highly specific set of circumstances which are exceptional' and said she would impose an exceptional sentence. 

Daly was given eight months in prison suspended for three years, ordered to sign the Sex Offender's Register for 10 years and had a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for the same period.