A 39-year-old man from Belleek has been sentenced to three years in prison for making indecent images of children and breaching a court order intended to protect the public.

Alun Cleary of Main Street, Belleek, pleaded guilty to eight counts of making indecent imagery, five breaches of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, and one count each of possessing prohibited images and extreme pornographic images. The offences occurred between January 2023 and June 2025, while Cleary was on licence after serving a previous custodial sentence for similar offending.

The court heard that a police examination of Cleary's phone uncovered over 8,800 Telegram groups and more than 55,000 communications. Officers found 250 images in Category A, the most serious classification, along with 227 Category B, 186 Category C, 24 prohibited images, and 16 extreme pornographic images. One image depicted a naked two-year-old child in distress, reaching out for help, the judge noted.

Police discovered the Telegram app installed on Cleary's phone during monitoring. He had been accessing illegal images for about nine months, beginning almost immediately after his release from custody and continuing through his participation in the Horizon Programme for sex offenders, which he completed just two weeks before his arrest.

When arrested, Cleary said he did not know why he committed the offences and apologised, saying he had let many people down. Judge Brian Sherrard described the images as horrific and noted attempts to conceal the use of the app. He said Cleary showed some insight into his offending but had accessed assistance to address it, describing the behaviour as having the appearance of addiction driven by sexual preoccupation and the use of imagery as a coping mechanism.

Cleary was assessed as presenting a high risk of reoffending. The judge imposed a three-year sentence, split equally between custody and licence, along with a ten-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and mandatory sex offender registration. A destruction order was granted for the seized phone and imagery.