July 2002
Pervert jailed for possession of child abuse images
A PERVERT jailed for storing sickening child abuse images on his computer also had a cache of images of disgusting sex acts with animals.
Disgraced Ulster helicopter pilot John Toal 39, was “addicted to internet porn” which was downloaded at night in his bedroom, a Belfast court heard this week.
Hundreds of sick images, including stills and videos, were found by cops on Toal’s computer when they raided his Jordanstown home last year.
Many included sickening child sex images and paedophile acts which he downloaded to feed his perverted sexual appetite.
But what did not emerge in court was that Toal harboured a huge cache of degrading sex acts with animals including hundreds of stills and videos.
But because bestiality is considered a lesser offence the sickening images – which included adults in perverse sex sessions with horses, dogs, pigs and sheep – were not taken into account.
An officer investigating the case said: “What was on those tapes was so stomach churning that it’s too horrible to recall. But there was nothing we could do about it.
“Cops have basically been caught napping as regards the internet and this whole thing. There’s not yet the legislation to deal with this stuff and it was simply disgusting.”
Perverted Toal stared at the floor as the court was told about the hundreds of sick images and videos seized from his Coolemoyle Park home last August.
The matter came to light after another man using the computer in Toal’s house, which was rented out to professionals and students, stumbled upon the images.
Judge Anthony Hart, who watched some of the material before handing down sentence, said no-one could be other than horrified by the collection which included children of both sexes, apparently not much more than five years of age.
But the court was told that the bestiality charges would not be part of the proceedings.
Instead Toal was convicted on 15 specimen counts of child porn and jailed for four months.
Toal, whose address was given as Doogary Road in Omagh, is expected to return to Co Tyrone on his release from jail in September.
His computer will be destroyed with the contents and he also been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders register for seven years. One cop said: “He should have got four YEARS.”
