GUILTY PLEA | 

Man who shared child abuse images moved address three times without telling gardaí

Ex soldier Kevin Bowes (70) was caught in 2014 when he accidentally sent an image of a naked girl to a female acquaintance

Today at 14:51

A SEX offender once jailed for sharing images of children as young as 10 being abused has moved address without telling gardaí three times, a court has heard.

Ex soldier Kevin Bowes (70) was caught in 2014 when he accidentally sent an image of a naked girl to a female acquaintance. He and a friend were found with 92 images of children in sexual activity with each other and adults.

He has now appeared before Dublin District Court charged with failing to notify gardaí of his address for the third time since his release from a two-year prison sentence in 2016.

Judge Deirdre Gearty fined him €250 after he pleaded guilty to the latest offence.

Garda Sergeant Michelle Lynch said Bowes was subject to the Sex Offenders Act when he left his Dublin address and failed to notify the gardaí between June 1 last year and March 12 this year.

When gardaí spoke to him, Bowes said he did not fully understand his obligations under the Act.

Gardaí had explained the requirements to him prior to his release from prison in 2016, when he signed the notification, the court heard.

Bowes had 11 previous convictions, most recently in 2021, for the same offence of failing to notify gardaí of his address. He had a conviction for the same offence in 2017.

Defence solicitor Peter Connolly said the accused apologised.

Bowes was on the state old age pension, had a “fairly chronic alcohol dependency” and suffered from multiple health issues, he said.

He had a mobile phone and when the gardai called him he did comply but he was living in a homeless hostel and “prioritising his health.”

“Sometimes he forgets to do it,” Mr Connolly said.

Bowes had been in the armed forces for 15 years and was previously married.

Judge Gearty said she was concerned that Bowes’ initial response to gardai was that he was not aware of his obligations.

“To say that to the gardaí for the third time is a little disingenuous,” she said, fining him.

Bowes, with an address at the time at Markievicz House, Townsend Street, Dublin, and a co-accused Kenneth Powell, then of Bessborough Avenue, North Strand, Dublin, both pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 2014 to possession of child pornography at their homes in March 2011.

Two months earlier, Bowes had inadvertently sent an image to a woman he knew. The image was captioned “She’s 12, she’s 12”.

The woman brought the image to gardaí who went to Bowes’ flat and seized three mobile phones. Gardaí found thousands of texts sent between Bowes and Powell. Some of the texts were lurid in detail and Powell talked about abusing children in 39 messages, the court heard.