Pedophile Who Described Child Sex Abuse As 'Delightful' Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison

A 37-year-old pedophile from Wales who once described one of the indecent files he received from a fellow pedophile online as "delightful" was sentenced to two years and four months in prison.

Shaun O'Donovan was arrested after he was caught in possession of almost 750 images and videos of pornography, some of which showed infants as young as 18 months old being sexually abused by men, Wales Online first reported, citing court statements delivered by prosecutors.

Police were executing in July last year a search warrant at O'Donovan's residence in Nant Y Dowlais, Cardiff, when they seized two phones and a laptop that contained 744 images that were classified Category A — images with children that involved penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal or sadism — as well as those that fell under the less serious Categories B and C.

Prosecutors told Cardiff Crown Court that the ages of the girls in the indecent files ranged from a baby of around 18 months old up to girls aged 11 or 12.

Officers also found evidence that indicated O'Donovan had also been involved in sharing images online. One of the messages they uncovered revealed O'Donovan responded to a fellow pedophile saying, "The file you sent me was delightful," accompanied by an emoji licking their lips.

Prosecutors said O'Donovan told police he accepted the fact he gained sexual gratification from looking at the images he had downloaded. He also told authorities he accepted how he fantasized about receiving oral sex from young girls.

Ruth Smith, O'Donovan's defense lawyer, said her client started by looking at "innocent" images on online photo-sharing platform Tumblr before moving on to pictures of naked women, and then on to increasingly younger girls. She said O'Donovan was sexually attracted to young girls aged 12 or 13 and had begun viewing pornography and masturbating daily after losing his job.

The lawyer also pointed out that O'Donovan's wife supported her husband despite being "absolutely horrified" by the nature of the images.

O'Donovan had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of making and possessing indecent images, two counts of distributing indecent images and one count each of possessing prohibited images and possessing extreme pornography.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke handed the two-year-and-four-month sentence to O'Donovan after hearing from both prosecutors and his defense. He will serve half of his sentence in custody before being released on license under the U.K. government's early release program to serve the remaining time in the community.

O'Donovan will also be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time to control his internet access.