Matthew Horan jailed for sexual exploitation offences

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

Matthew Horan was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three-and-a-half years in prison, with the final two years suspended. Judge Martin Nolan made the sentence consecutive to a term Horan was already serving.

Horan confirmed a guilty plea to possessing child pornography on his phone at Clondalkin Garda Station on 21 January 2017. The additional charges included sexual exploitation and the production and distribution of child pornography. The proceedings were reported on 2 January 2020.

The report said Horan posed as a young girl on Snapchat and induced a 12-year-old to send him sexually explicit images and videos. He then used her images while posing as a teenage girl to interact with another girl, whom gardaí believed was aged between 11 and 13. Sergeant David Connolly said Horan also induced the second girl to send explicit images and videos.

Judge Nolan said Horan had traumatised the girls and needed to serve additional prison time. Prosecuting counsel John Berry said Horan’s guilty pleas had assisted the prosecution because the identified girl’s parents had asked that she have nothing to do with the case. The report said Horan took responsibility when interviewed in September 2018 and told gardaí he was willing to cooperate.