Thomas Folliard’s child-sex exploitation appeal dismissed

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

Thomas Folliard’s appeal against his conviction for sexual exploitation of a child was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 10 May 2018. He had been convicted at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on 27 October 2017 for an incident in Claremorris, Co Mayo.

The appeal challenged the failure to hold an identification parade, the use of CCTV footage and issues arising from the complainant’s evidence. The court held that the procedure was not unfair and that an identification parade would not have materially changed the case.

The court also held that the trial judge was entitled to find there was a case for the jury and dismissed the conviction appeal.