A pensioner who was caught in a sting operation by an online group after he sent sexually explicit images and had sexualised conversations with what he believed were 11- to 12-year-old girls has been jailed for two years.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that Patrick (Pat) Linehan, previously of Comeragh Park, the Glen, Cork city, initially described his interactions with what he thought were very young girls as “harmless fun.”
Mr Linehan previously pleaded guilty to using technology to interact with children for sexual exploitation. He also admitted arranging to meet a child for the purpose of sexual assault.
Det Garda Brendan Murray said that gardaí were called to the home of Mr Linehan on July 8th, 2023. The 70-year-old had been approached by members of an organisation called Child Online Protection Enforcers.
Det Garda Murray said that individuals in the group had set up fake decoy profiles where they posed as children. Mr Linehan went as far to try and arrange to meet up with what he thought was a twelve-year-old girl for a “kiss and a cuddle “ and to “make love in the back seat of a car in the country.”
Det Garda Murray said that when gardaí arrived at the home of Mr Linehan, a member of the enforcers group handed them two USB storage devices. The devices contained sexualised conversations between the accused and adults pretending to be two girls, aged 11 and 12 years.
Det Garda Murray said that the accused acknowledged sending images and videos to one of the girls. However, he denied that the videos were obscene in nature.
“He also stated that she had asked to meet with him a few times, but he had never met up with her.”
“In the initial conversations with each of the profiles, Pat Linehan is informed he is communicating with children, and their ages are discussed on a number of occasions throughout the message threads.”
Mr Linehan told the persons posing as young girls that he was 13 years old. But he subsequently sent images of a sexual nature of himself. He then admitted that he was in his sixties.
Det Garda Murray said that Mr Linehan engaged in sexual conversations with both profile users and detailed in graphic detail the sexual acts he would like to perform on one of the girls.
“He asks if they would perform sexual acts on him, to which they reply, questioning if they’re allowed to do that, given their ages, Pat Linehan suggests nobody would know, that it would be a secret.
He sent images of his penis to both girls, and he sent videos of a sexual nature to the profile of the 11 year old girl. The message thread to both girls began on June 19th, 2023, and continued for a number of weeks, concluding on July 8th 2023.”
Defence counsel Ronan Barnes, BL, said that his client had an exemplary work record. Mr Linehan was employed for Cork County Council for over thirty years. He added that Mr Linehan cooperated with gardaí and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Judge Helen Boyle said that Mr Linehan had engaged with adults who were “masquerading as children”, telling them he was 13 years old before eventually stating he was 64 years old. In fact, he was several years older than that.
Judge Boyle said that Mr Linehan had gone as far as to try to arrange to meet what he thought was a 12-year-old girl. She described his culpability as “high” and said that although no injured parties exist in the case, the offences committed by the accused related to “intent.”
In mitigation, Judge Boyle noted that Mr Linehan was without previous convictions and had voluntarily returned from his new home in South Africa to face the case. She also acknowledged that the guilty plea had saved the State the cost of a trial.
Judge Boyle jailed Mr Linehan for 3.5 years. She suspended the final 18 months of the sentence with the condition that he return to South Africa within two weeks of finishing his prison sentence.
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.
