An English father of two appeared before Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday charged with downloading over 2,000 child pornography images from the Internet.
Mr Colin Ashman (31), Tooreenfineen, Rockchapel, Co Cork, previously pleaded guilty to one charge of having in his possession a computer which contained images of naked girls.
Garda Bill Brosnan said the defendant had not come to the attention of gardaí since his last court appearance in November 2002.
His house in north Cork was raided on November 19th, 2001, and gardaí found thousands of pornographic images of children on a Gateway computer at the property.
The majority of images were of girls aged 11 to 14. A small number of them depicted children engaged in sexual activity.
Garda Brosnan said the defendant has as yet to give an explanation for his actions.
However, he has admitted he needs help and is taking steps in relation to treating his problem.
Mr Ashman is originally from Bristol. His partner and their two children live in England. He has been living in Rockchapel for about three years and is unemployed.
Defence barrister Mr Donal O'Sullivan said his client had downloaded 2,343 images of child pornography.
However, he noted, Mr Ashman had not engaged in generating or supplying pictures of this type.
The defendant is being evaluated for treatment and psychiatric counselling to gain insight into his problem.
Judge Patrick J. Moran said he needed time to consider the case and adjourned sentencing until February 17th.
The defendant will be remanded on continuing bail until then.