Garda's Shocking Online Deception Revealed in Court

A garda who impersonated a female colleague online and encouraged strangers to come to her house to rape her and her young daughters will be sentenced next month. Shane Flanagan, who resigned from the force in March this year, admitted two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman, who had been a friend, on dates between November and December 2020. He 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.

Details of the case were revealed today during the sentence hearing for Flanagan. The court heard the woman, who had considered him a friend, was in significant shock when she discovered he was behind the communications. 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.

Detective Sergeant Paul English told prosecuting counsel Anne Marie Lawlor that both Flanagan and the woman had been serving members of An Garda Síochána. He agreed that there had been no relationship or sexual involvement of any kind between them. 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. Flanagan was linked with the accounts through his phone number and details found on his laptop.

Ms Lawlor said when he was caught, his contention was that this was all 'harmless role play'. But she told the court he had provided details including the woman’s Eircode and the make and model of her car to allow men to gain access to her address. Details of the conversations between Flanagan, purporting to be the woman, and men on the fetish website and Facebook messenger, were read during a lengthy sentence hearing.

The court heard two men had been identified and had provided statements to gardaí. Some men had been identified but had not provided statements and others had not been identified at all. Some lived in the US and the UK whereas others lived near the small rural town where the woman was based.

The first man believed the woman was fully consenting to him coming to her home to rape her. He had confirmed details of her address with the profile operated by Flanagan and they had got to the details of using the protection and whether the woman would go on the pill. The truth only emerged when he contacted the real woman on Facebook to satisfy himself that she was consenting.

He told gardaí that whoever had done this 'must really hate' the woman to have gone to the lengths he had gone to. In the messages, Flanagan, pretending to be the woman, described repeatedly how his fantasy was to have someone stalk and track her, to break into her house while she was sleeping or take her while she was out jogging. There were 'quite extraordinarily detailed descriptions' in the messages of what the man was going to do to the woman.

Flanagan provided a second man with the woman’s Eircode. This man said he believed the woman was fully consenting and was 'shocked and astounded' at how dangerous it was for her. Flanagan had invited him to the woman’s house but the man could not make it at short notice. He messaged other men on the fetish website and, in some cases, sent them Google Street View images of the woman’s house, along with her Eircode.

Flanagan also talked about being interested in cannibalism and being beheaded. He repeatedly mentioned the woman’s young teenage daughters. And with some of the users he arranged dates for the rapes to happen. He also sent some men screenshots of the route the woman regularly took jogging in the evenings, which he had taken from a running app.

On Facebook, he discussed 'cannibal scenarios' and fantasies in relation to killing and 'cooking' the kids while sending users genuine photographs of the woman and her children. He also discussed giving sleeping tablets to the teenagers and indulged in extensive discussion about what would be done to all three.

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 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.

In a victim impact statement, the woman’s eldest daughter said she had known the man for as long as she could remember and had gone to GAA matches with him. She said he had been a close family friend for so long and the loss of trust was shocking. She said what had happened had affected her sense of safety, her trust in people and her ability to enjoy life like she used to.

In her own statement, the woman said that Flanagan had betrayed her, her children and her family by plotting to have her and her two daughters attacked and raped, and sharing the most intimate details of their lives with strangers online. While pretending to be a trusted colleague and friend she said he planned for men to find them and carry out acts of unspeakable violence.

She said she no longer felt safe in her home and suffered from crippling anxiety and panic attacks and was dependent on medication and counselling just to function. She said she worried about how this would shape the rest of her daughters’ lives and said no sentence could undo the harm caused. She said he had taken the love of her career from her.

She had been proud of her uniform but her sense of purpose and pride had now gone. She said it was not just a betrayal of friendship but a calculated predatory act of violence which had left lifelong scars for her and her daughters. Defence counsel Padraig Dwyer said his client had written a letter apologising to the woman and her children.

Flanagan said he felt deep guilt and shame and knew no words could undo the immense pain and trauma he had caused. Mr Dwyer said psychological and probation reports found Flanagan’s expressions of remorse and shame were genuine and placed him at a low to medium risk of reoffending.

Counsel said even though the court had heard about the sinister and darker aspects of his character, his sister said he never came across as anything other than a gentle, empathic, loyal, kindhearted person with a great sense of humour. The court heard Flanagan lives a lonely, isolated life with no job or friends and very little by way of social contact. He is aware he had serious sexual problems and wants to address them.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said she would sentence Flanagan on 29 July.