Severely autistic man claimed penis abnormality drove him to seek naked pictures from boys

A man from Castlebar, County Mayo, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sexually exploiting children online. Mark Keogh pleaded guilty to 14 charges of child sexual exploitation and possession of child pornography. Between November 2013 and May 2014, he created a fake Facebook profile posing as a teenage girl named Nicole Doyle and contacted 14 boys aged 13 to 16, requesting naked photographs. Gardaí discovered over 700 sexually explicit images of children on his laptop during a search in February 2016, approximately 400 of which depicted the 12 victims. Judge Martin Nolan imposed a five-year sentence but suspended the final three and a half years. The judge noted Keogh's severe autism, psychiatric difficulties, and genuine need for specialist care, whilst acknowledging the seriousness of the offending and impact on the victims. Keogh has no previous convictions.