A Dublin man, described as the world's largest facilitator of child abuse imagery, has been sentenced to 27 years in prison in the US.
Eric Eoin Marques was handed down the sentence last night, after pleading guilty to conspiring to advertise child abuse images on the dark web
Prosecutors said his anonymous service contained more than 8.5 million images of child abuse, with almost 2 million involving victims not known to officers.
Noeline Blackwell, Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre says his sentence was the maximum of what he could have received under the plea agreement.
She says it sends a "clear message" to people involved in child image abuse.
"To everybody who looks at that kind of child abuse, who distributes it and who pays for it, they are implicit in this kind of criminal behavior."
