Cyril Moan had downloaded such a large stash of videos and images of children being abused that the 78-year-old categorised and catalogued them all so he could easily find the ones he wanted.
This week, Moan, from Moneyreagh, Co Down, escaped a prison sentence despite having thousands of sick pictures and videos including more than 600 deemed Category A, the worst kind which depict children being subjected to penetrative acts or scenes involving either bestiality or BDSM.
When confronted by the Sunday World at his home, the polite and softly spoken grandfather calmly told us he was trying to put his shameful criminal behaviour “behind him”.
Moan told us: “I’d rather not talk to you about it. I’m trying to put it behind me and get on with my life. It was a bad period of my life and of course I regret what I did.”
Sentencing him at Downpatrick Crown Court to a ten-month suspended jail term, Judge Geoffrey Miller KC referenced Huw Edwards when making it clear just how people like them created a demand for children to be abused.
A judge likened Moan to disgraced BBC presenter Huw Edwards after he downloaded thousands of indecent images of kids
The judge told Moan he was suspending his sentence for three years because of his clear record, guilty pleas and ill-health.
But he made it crystal clear to him that by searching for and downloading the sickening, abhorrent imagery he had helped to create a demand for children to be subjected to degrading sex abuse.
Commenting that the recent case of a “well-known personality in England has brought into sharp focus how serious and abhorrent these crimes are,” the judge highlighted the fact that “it is sadly the experience of this court, if not on a daily basis, then certainly on a weekly basis” to have to deal with similar cases and like-minded perverts.
That was a clear reference to shamed BBC presenter Edwards, who earlier this year admitted having 41 indecent images of children, including seven Category A images — the most serious classification — two of which showed a child aged between about seven and nine. Edwards has yet to be sentenced and has been told he could go to jail.
Reporter Steven Moore confronts sex offender Cyril Moan
At an earlier hearing, Moan had entered guilty pleas to nine specimen charges of possessing indecent images of children, all committed on April 21, 2022, three relating to class A images, three to class B and three to class C.
Judge Miller described how police carried out a search at Moan’s home under a warrant where they seized eight electronic devices.
Two were found to contain illegal material including a total of 3,487 photographs and 71 videos. The judge described how Moan had 634 Category A images and 25 videos.
Judge Miller also outlined how the police examinations revealed how Moan had not just actively searched out these images on the web, using specific search terms to find them, but once he had, he filed them away so he could easily find them.
In what must have been a very efficient manner, Moan created separate folders for different sex acts, separating out the downloaded images and videos into their respective categories so that he could find them again.
During police interviews Moan “made full and frank admissions” and co-operated with the police investigation, providing detectives with his PIN codes and passwords.
Turning to defence reports, Judge Miller said it was no surprise that “there’s been a fundamental breakdown” between Moan and the father of his grandchildren. Assessed by a probation officer of posing a low likelihood of committing further offences, the pervert pensioner “has demonstrated insight” into his offending and remorse for the ripple effects of the impact it has on the children abused.
Quoting the Court of Appeal, the judge said: “For every photograph it is trite to say there is an abused child, for many of the persons who appear before the court they seem to self-excuse on the basis that the abuse has already taken place.
“The photograph has been taken and, therefore, it is an event passed. This, of course, is distorted thinking. By virtue of involvement in this trade it ensures that abuse will continue, and such materials exist because there is a market for it.”
The judge also imposed a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and told Moan he will have to sign the police sex offenders register for the next ten years.