Former garda (39) jailed for impersonating colleague online and inciting men to rape her

Eimear Dodd

A former garda who impersonated a colleague online and incited men to come to her home and rape her has been jailed for seven years.

Shane Flanagan (39), with an address in Co Clare, impersonated the woman on a fetish website and on Facebook and engaged in graphic online discussions with users of these sites about sexual violence, rape, cannibalism, torture and physical violence.

He also shared the woman's personal information including her address, photos of her and her daughters and screenshots from the Strava app, showing her running route.

Flanagan pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman on dates between November and December 2020. He further pleaded guilty to six counts of endangering the woman and her daughters between 2018 and 2020, and to one count of possession of four images of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, on January 7th, 2021. He has no previous convictions.

Imposing sentence at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said Flanagan's offending showed a “breath-taking disregard” for the safety of the injured parties and that he would have been “more alive to these dangers” due to his background as a garda.

She imposed a sentence of eight years with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions for three years.

More to follow...