Belfast man accused of having more than 1,000 images of children being raped and sexually abused had fantasies of murdering a child, court told

Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Saturday heard that “even seasoned detectives” were shocked at the material and chat logs they uncovered on devices seized from 32-year-old Robert Park.

An officer revealed that material included discussions about the “desire to kidnap, decapitate and rape a child”, further chats about “grabbing, drugging and raping a child”, and Park allegedly asking a similar-minded individual to record himself abusing his younger brother and daughter.

Bar manager Park, from Ardcarn Drive in east Belfast, confirmed he understood five charges against him where, on an indictment covering a time span between May 11 2023 and February 19 2024, he is alleged to have possessed prohibited images of children, possessed and distributed indecent images of children, had extreme pornography and “incited another to take an indecent image of a child”.

During a contested application for bail, the officer told the court that acting on information police had conducted a search at Park’s home in February last year and seized a number of devices which were then examined.

Those examinations uncovered “almost 1,100 illegal files, the majority of which are category A images involving children”.

“The triage of devices also identified messages of a concerning nature between the defendant and another male in which the defendant requested the other party to commit sexual offences on a child and to send a video of this,” said the officer.

Until that evidence was obtained Park had been on police bail but there was then a decision to arrest him.

The detective said police had a number of objections to Park being granted bail including the fact that his home address was in the middle of a densely populated residential area, surrounded by family homes and schools.

There was the added factor that given the nature of the offences “community tensions” may be increased so there was a concern for Park’s own safety.

Another objection was that if freed Park could commit further offences and although the officer conceded that Park has no relevant convictions he added: “I cannot stress enough the nature of the information found which was shocking even to seasoned detectives.

“We do not believe there are bail conditions which could manage the risk posed by him.”

Under cross-examination from defence counsel James Toal he agreed there was no evidence of further offending since the search almost a year ago, but the detective emphasised that other devices, including gaming devices, had not been examined yet.

The barrister argued that given the lack of previous sexual offending and that the police investigation will take some considerable time, that Park could and should be granted bail.

District Judge Amanda Henderson told the court however: “I cannot ignore the sheer volume and absolute gravity of the images that have been unearthed by the police.”

The judge added: “I am also concerned about the chats that have been unearthed, that gives me the most gravest concern.”

Park was remanded into custody with the case adjourned to January 27.