A former garda who impersonated a female colleague online and encouraged strangers to come to her house to rape her and her young daughters, has been jailed for seven years.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said that Shane Flanagan, who resigned from the force in March, showed a breathtaking disregard for the safety of his victims.
He admitted two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman, who had been a friend, on dates between November and December 2020.
Flanagan also admitted six counts of endangering the woman and her teenage daughters through his communications online and he pleaded guilty to possessing four images of child sexual abuse material.
Ms Justice Creedon sentenced him to eight years in prison and suspended the final year.
The court heard that Flanagan and the woman were both serving members of An Garda Síochána at the time.
They were friends but had never had a romantic or intimate relationship.
Flanagan set up a profile on a Canadian-based website which allows people to interact with each other about their sexual fetishes.
The court heard a subgroup on this website, is called "CNC" or consensual non-consent where women give advance consent to men to come to their homes to rape them.
Flanagan set up the profile using real photos and information relating to his female friend. He also set up a fake Facebook account for the same purpose.
The communications were only discovered in December 2020, when one of the men who had been discussing the logistics of going to the woman's house with the fake account, contacted the woman's real Facebook profile to make sure she was really consenting.
The woman set up her own profile on the website, pretending to be a man, and discovered the extent of the information that was being shared online about her.
The court heard she was in significant shock when the garda investigation revealed Flanagan was responsible.
She said that it was not just a betrayal of friendship, it was a "calculated, predatory act of violence", which had left lifelong scars for her and her daughters.
Ms Justice Creedon said that Flanagan maintained when he was caught that it was "harmless role play".
However, she said the people he was in contact with believed the woman was consenting to be raped and he had provided details of her address, including her Eircode.
The judge said the conversations online in relation to the endangerment charges relating to the woman and her two children were extremely graphic and disturbing.
Posing as the woman, Flanagan discussed "cannibal scenarios" and discussed in graphic detail what could be done to her and to her daughters.
In some cases he sent men Google Street View images of the woman's house and her regular running route.
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The images of "child pornography" found on his laptop involved children aged from eight to 15 as well as an animated image.
When gardaí searched the man’s home and devices they also found almost 700 images of the woman as well as 219 images of her that had been digitally altered to show her gagged, bound, naked or prepared to be "cooked" for cannibalism.
The woman and her daughters had known Flanagan as a close family friend.
They socialised with him and attended GAA matches with him.
Ms Justice Creedon said it was clear that Flanagan’s offending had a profound impact on his victims.
She said he had shared intimate details of the three women in the dangerous arena of a fetish website and had placed all three in real physical danger.
Their fear and disquiet endured, coupled with a sense of deep betrayal.
The judge said they were traumatised and the impact of the crimes would be enduring.
She said a probation report had shown that Flanagan prioritised his own needs over the needs of others and engaged in distorted thinking to continue his offending.
The judge said the offending went on from November 2018 to January 2021 and was not a short lapse of judgment but was cold and calculated, motivated by satisfying his own sexual interests and preferences.
She said he showed a breathtaking disregard for the safety of the woman and as a garda he would have been more alive to these dangers.
The offences of incitement to rape carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Ms Justice Creedon set a headline sentence of ten years and reduced it to eight to take into account factors including his plea of guilty, his written apology to the victims and the fact that prison would be more difficult for him as a former garda.
She also suspended the final year for a total of three years.
She imposed concurrent sentences of six years for the endangerment charges and three years for the child pornography offence.
Flanagan’s defence counsel Breffni Gordon told the court that Flanagan had been quite distressed since going into custody for the first time at the end of June, and asked the judge to recommend appropriate psychiatric care while in prison.
