130,000 child porn pics on computer

POLICE discovered 130,000 films and photographs of children being abused when they seized a computer belonging to a Downpatrick man.

There were so many illegal images on Francis Martin Murphy’s computer, police could only examine 30,000, Downpatrick Crown Court heard on Thursday.

Forty two year-old Murphy, of Irish Street, has been charged with 30 charges of making indecent photographs of children.

A prosecution barrister told the court how the films and photographs were categorised on a scale of one to five with five being the most serious.

Twelve images were in the most serious category with a large number in the level four category.

Murphy had been due to be sentenced at Thursday’s court sitting, but dismissed his defence team before the case could begin.

He was remanded in custody for four weeks to allow a new defence team to be briefed on the case.