KIERAN CREAVEN, a former producer with RTÉ Sport, has been jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing children.
The 59-year-old, from Adelaide Street in Dún Laoghaire, had admitted 10 offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in May.
They included sexually exploiting children online in Dublin, three counts of sexually assaulting and exploiting children in the Philippines and possession of child abuse imagery in Britain and Ireland.
According to RTÉ News, one of the children in Ireland was 13 years old and another was in the care of TUSLA, the Child and Family Agency.
Philippines abuse
The offences in the Philippines are believed to have been committed in 2014.
They came to light after a memory card taken from Creaven contained two videos of him abusing a young girl aged around 10-12.
At one stage during one of the recordings, there were two other children, including a baby, in the room.
Creaven recorded part of the footage himself while at other times someone else recorded the abuse.
Paedophile hunters
The memory card containing the videos was seized from Creaven after he was caught in a sting operation carried out by paedophile hunters.
The Irishman had travelled to Leeds in November 2017 believing he was meeting up with a 13-year-old girl.
He later pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child under the age of 16 following grooming and attempting to engage a child in sexual activity.
However he served just half of an 18-month custodial sentence at Armley Prison in Leeds.
He was released in January 2019 and returned to Ireland.
Investigation
Creaven was not previously known to gardaí but his arrest and imprisonment in Leeds sparked a multi-agency investigation.
He was arrested in Ireland in October 2019 although no charges were brought on that occasion.
However in October 2020, he was arrested once again and charged with 17 counts of child abuse offences, 10 of which he pleaded guilty to in May this year.
According to RTÉ News, the broadcaster said that Creaven was dismissed with immediate effect in December 2017 following his guilty plea to charges relating to the Leeds offences.
It added that it had provided assistance to An Garda Síochána as requested during its investigation.
Speaking after Friday's sentencing, Detective Superintendent Barry Walsh said: "The conviction in this case is a clear statement that there is no safe haven for those people who choose to engage in sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation, whether that’s here in Ireland or abroad."
