A twisted health care worker who tried to assemble a “paedo family” with like-minded creeps online has been jailed.
Kevin Flaherty, who was remanded last month for his own protection, was beaten up while awaiting sentence at Perth Prison, the city’s sheriff court heard.
The 47-year-old had been caught in an undercover sting trying to arrange hook-ups with a family to sexually abuse their children.
Cops raided his home in Aberfeldy and recovered a hidden cache of obscene images on his iPhone.
Flaherty, an NHS health care support worker, was placed in custody last month after pleading guilty to four charges linked to online child sex abuse.
He returned to the dock this week and was jailed for 22 months as part of a 44 month extended sentence.
‘Poor me’ complex
Sheriff William Wood told Flaherty: “You come before the court for the first time at the age of 47, but you are charged with very serious offences.
“The discussion that you had with who you believed to be a like-minded individual online – nobody who heard that could not be repulsed by what they heard.
“It was vile, reprehensible and not to mention deviant.”
When police raided his home in Churchill Court, days before Christmas 2021, they seized a phone containing 41 illicit files.
They featured children as young as five.
The sheriff told him: “Notwithstanding that the number of images involved in this case was relatively small, a custodial sentence is inevitable.”
He added: “You must understand that each of these photographs represents the serious abuse of the child depicted.
“Those who access this sort of material on the internet bear a responsibility, because they create a demand.
“Such offences can be properly be said to contribute to the pain, discomfort and fear of children who are physically abused.”
The sheriff told Flaherty: “This may have been a catastrophic event for you, but that’s nothing compared to the catastrophic abuse on these children.
“You seem to have developed a ‘poor me’ complex because of your experiences in custody.
“That has to be set against the fact that your engagement in these offences took place over a protracted period.
“Not only did you maintain those images you tried to distribute some of them.”
Flaherty was further placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
Prison assault
The court heard that in assessment reports, social workers described Flaherty as “self obsessed and focused on his own self pity.”
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “That does not mean he is not remorseful.
“He may have presented that way because he was a victim of an assault while on remand. That has now been reported to the authorities.
“He was subject to this by his cell mate. This was at a time when he was at a low point.”
The court heard how Flaherty held more than 3,500 chats online to share his sick child abuse fantasies with other paedophiles.
He sent a naked photo of himself to one user and urged him to show it to his children, before he arrived to abuse them in person.
Flaherty was the subject of an undercover operation by the South-East Regional Organised Crime Unit.
The sting involved officers posing as parents on certain online groups.
Flaherty chatted for months with an undercover officer, posing as a married child sex abuser.
After chatting about abusing the man’s son and daughter, Flaherty told him he wanted to travel to meet them.
He insisted he was being real and not indulging in fantasy chat, the court heard.
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