Wigan man charged with having more than 42,000 indecent images of children

Daniel O’Brien, of Worsley Street, Golborne, appeared before borough justices charged with creating 1,899 pictures which fall into the most serious legal category (A) plus 3,164 category B images and an enormous 37,702 category C pictures.

He is further accused of possessing 10 images of human intercourse with animals and 15 prohibited images of children.

And he is also charged with distributing some of the illegal images: namely seven category A pictures, three category B and 11 C. O’Brien has yet to enter pleas to the charges and, because of the seriousness of the allegations, the bench immediately sent the case to be heard at Bolton Crown Court.

He will make his first appearance before a judge on December 15 before which he is on bail conditional that he does not have any unsupervised contact with minors, sleeps at his home address and he requires National Crime Agency authorisation to access any internet-enabling devices.

Meanwhile in a separate case, a young Wigan man has been accused of sending lewd messages to several girls for his own sexual gratification.

Liam Forrest, 22, of Atherton Road, Hindley, stood before borough magistrates charged with six counts of communincating with minors, making sexual requests of them and sending them sexual images to view.

He is further accused of making seven indecent images of children which fall into the most serious category in legal terms (A) and a further three category B pictures.

Forrest was granted unconditional bail until his next court appearance on December 15 which will be before a Bolton judge because the charges are so serious.

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