Undercover UK police sting nets Westmeath based man with abuse images haul

Tom Tuite

A sting operation involving UK police led to a Midlands-based man being caught with 10,000 images and 50 videos of child sexual abuse.

Electronic engineer Mark Barlow, 61, of Clonlost, Kilucan, Co Westmeath, was arrested following a series of disturbing online chats with an undercover police officer in Yorkshire about fantasies involving young girls and toddlers.

He pleaded guilty to two offences under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998.

Divisional Protective Service Unit Detective Garda Elizabeth Glennon told Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court that the accused was identified as a suspect after an initial investigation by Yorkshire and Humberside Police.

Judge Kenneth Connolly heard that Barlow had been a user called Dave, but using a screen name “Wow, that’s tight” on an internet platform with indecent images of children.

From May 2nd to June 6th 2023, he engaged with the undercover officer using the name Andrew, purporting to be an adult male who was sexually abusing his children.

Detective Garda Glennon agreed with prosecutor Cathal Ó Braonáin that “Andrew” noticed the accused’s screenname and that he had left sexualised comments on other users’ images of children.

Andrew told Barlow, “not many of us Brits on this site”, and invited the accused to email him because he thought they had similar interests. Barlow replied with a sexual comment.

The undercover officer referred to a girl named M.

The accused replied that they had similar tastes, and was glad Andrew could enjoy M, “as only a father can”. The undercover operative, Andrew, asked the accused what ages he was into, adding, “For me, it's zero to 10”.

Barlow replied, “You have my age preference spot on”.

The accused later commented to Andrew, “a toddler on my tongue”, and the undercover policeman asked if he had any experience with what he called “little cunts”.

Barlow emailed back, saying he had “tasted a few” and describing how that happened.

On May 18th, the accused emailed Andrew asking about abusing his baby and asked, “I wonder if it is sweeter when it's your own?”.

He mentioned an incident involving two girls aged two and four, where abuse was about to happen, and asked Andrew about his experiences.

He wrote to the undercover officer later, who asked if he had seen many girls out in the sun. The accused replied that it was a “rich hunting ground for little girls” He wrote that he was waiting for an invite to a friend’s house for a barbecue where there would be

“Yummy mummies showing off their darlings”. They then discussed girls' clothing.

The officer engaged with him more and discussed a particular image, asking him what he would do with her if he had the chance. The accused answered, "A lot of kissing and licking”.

They discussed images that were sent to the undercover officer, who replied with further sexualised comments about girls.

Barlow later emailed the officer saying, “I just love little girls, they get me so hard; I really want to eat pussy from about two up,” and stated that he liked to see them with “cocks in their mouths”.

He sent a picture of a six-year-old girl, sexually exposed.

Barlow continued the conversation and asked the undercover officer about the abuse of his daughter and discussed engaging in other sexual acts with a young girl.

They discussed what they were watching on the internet, and that concluded the chat, which itself was classed as a child pornography offence under the Act and one of the charges on the indictment.

The Internet Protocol (IP) number was traced to the accused’s home, where gardaí attended on September 29th 2023. They seized the married man’s laptop, tablet computers, and phones, which had an estimated 10,000 images and 50 videos of child abuse.

They were on the child explicit and child exposure scale, of girls aged from six to mid-teens, and some were engaged in sexual activity with males.

Detective Garda Glennon agreed that the accused was cooperative on arrest. During his interview, he apologised and said this activity started in early 2023 when he was away a lot for work and was bored.

He suggested that he got into the habit of looking at child sexual abuse material. Questioned about the explicit conversations, he maintained they were “purely fantasy on his part”.

The court heard he had no prior convictions and had been in the same job for the past 25 years.

Defence counsel Stephen Byrne said his client told gardaí he knew he should have stopped and that he did not instigate the conversations and deleted them because he was appalled at his actions.

The detective agreed that the accused told gardaí that over the previous year, it had happened more often, and he did not know if he was addicted or not.

Barlow, who has no prior criminal convictions and is on bail, also told the investigating officers that he had been bored and away a lot.

The court heard that he told gardaí that he knew he should have stopped, it happened out of fascination, not sexual gratification, and he was ashamed and disgusted.

The defence submitted that much of the salacious conversation originated with the undercover officer, but the detective disagreed.

Judge Connolly commented that he had been shocked by it, but added that it was perhaps necessary to draw out the exact nature of the offending.

There was no evidence that the accused had paid for any of the material recovered from his devices.

Barlow has been attending psychotherapy, and a probation report described him as being at low risk of re-offending.

Sentencing was adjourned until a date in December.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help