A primary school cleaner who allegedly had thousands of indecent images and videos of children is the first person in the North to be prosecuted for having a manual on being a paedophile, his solicitor has said.
Gary Carruthers (34) was charged at Newtownards Magistrates Court with having two manuals, one giving instructions on how to groom and abuse children and one entitled "producing kiddie porn for dummies".
Carruthers, of Victoria Street in Belfast, is accused of 20 counts of making indecent images of children, two of having paedophile manuals that contained advice or guidance about abusing children sexually, three of having prohibited images of children and a further three counts of possessing extreme pornography on dates between July 31st, 2012 and September 16th, 2015.
The charges arise after officers from the National Crime Agency uncovered 30 storage devices hidden in a safe in his bedroom along with the 170 page paedophile handbook.
The court heard there were 18,000 images including some where children’s faces were superimposed onto abusive images. The amount of material seized was so vast that officers from the National Crime Agency sought the assistance of a forensic firm to trawl through the storage devices they uncovered from his bedroom.
The NCA officer claimed that of the images uncovered, they have been classified “right through [levels] from one to five.”
Sadomasochism
According to legal guidelines, images classified at level one depict erotic posing while those at level five portray full penetrative sexual acts with adults, often with elements of sadomasochism.
It has been further claimed that the paedophile manual was a guide on “how to approach a child” and gave detailed steps on grooming a child, from the first introduction to full physical abuse.
Defence solicitor John Finucane said it was the first time the charge of having such a manual had been laid against anyone in Northern Ireland, adding that it will be "a fairly complex case" when it reaches the Crown Court.
While the prosecution did not open any of the facts or circumstances relating to the allegations, their lawyer submitted the papers “disclose a case to answer” against Carruthers, a claim conceded by Mr Finucane.
Remanding Carruthers back into custody and extending legal aid to include a senior QC to be instructed in the case, District Judge Hamill ordered him to appear before Downpatrick Crown Court on September 1st when the charges will be put to him at the arraignment stage.