Joseph O'Connor loses appeal against child pornography conviction

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Joseph O'Connor lost his appeal against four child pornography possession convictions in the Court of Appeal, with judgment delivered on 28 January 2020.

The court held that the trial judge was correct to proceed despite an unavailable witness and was justified in finding that the search warrant and resulting Garda search were lawful.

It also found there was a rational basis for concluding that deleted material had been on a computer under O'Connor's control, and dismissed all grounds of appeal. He had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment on 15 February 2019 after his conviction at retrial.