Notorious paedophile dies in prison just months into sentence for horror crimes

Anthony Daly, originally from Dun Laoghaire, passed away in the Midlands Prison yesterday and had been suffering from cancer, according to sources.

He had been living in a Co Kildare nursing home before he was arraigned in court last June for indecently assaulting two boys in Waterford in the 1980s.

Daly had previously been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of a friend’s daughter from 1998 until 2004.

The Irish Prison Service said it “does not comment on individual cases” but confirmed the next of kin have been notified.

“This death in custody will be investigated by the Irish Prison Service, The Inspector of Prisons and An Garda Síochána, where circumstances warrant. The cause of death is determined by the Coroner’s Office.”

Last summer Daly pleaded guilty to 13 sample counts of indecent assault and assault on two children, between August 8, 1981 and August 30, 1986 in County Waterford.

Daly was arraigned by video link in Waterford Circuit Criminal Court on the charges and last December was given a four-year prison sentence.

The charges included the indecent assault of a boy on at least five separate occasions at a residential address in Co. Waterford on unknown dates between August 1981 and August 1986.

He also pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting the same boy on a number of occasions including at a Scout Hall in Co. Waterford.

Daly also admitted indecent assault against a second boy at a home in the county between January 1985 and June 1986.

The same boy was also subjected to an indecent assault in a field.

A statement was offered to the court on behalf of Daly which said: “I would like to express remorse to the two victims.”

In 2008, he went on trial at the Central Criminal Court where he had been accused of systematically raping the daughter of a family friend over six years.

Then, with an address in Dun Laoghaire, Daly pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, from a total of 72, from 1998 to 2004.

The girl was aged between six and 12 when she was attacked by Daly.

It was heard in court at the time the Director of Public Prosecutions considered this case to be at the upper end of the scale of child sex abuse.

A psychiatric report on the teenage victim said she felt anger towards her abuser and described her as a vulnerable and naive girl who had trouble in expressing how the abuse had affected her.

Evidence was also heard how Daly had baby-sat the victim and her siblings every week and the abuse, which occurred in her bedroom, began when she was seven years old.

In 2003 arrangements changed and she began to go to the accused's home where the abuse happened in a bedroom while the girl's younger sister was asleep beside her.

Another incident occurred at a New Year's Eve party in 2003 in the home of a relative of Daly when the victim and a sibling ended up sleeping in the same room as him and he raped her.

The abuse came to light when the girl confided in a friend who told her father.

When interviewed by gardai, Daly denied he had slept in the same bed as the girl at the party and dismissed all other allegations as lies.

The father of one had been married in England but returned to Ireland when his marriage broke up.

He had no previous convictions at the time and it was heard that Daly, then aged 64, was in bad health and had suffered several minor strokes.

In sentencing Daly the trial judge Justice Barry White said the victim's father had "entrusted his child's care to you, a friend" and that Daly had been guilty of "an appalling breach of trust".

He said his guilty pleas had come "at the 11th hour" after a jury had been sworn in for his trial but had spared the victim the trauma of giving evidence.

He said the gravity of the crimes warranted a sentence of 15 years on each of the three counts.

He suspended the final three years due to the man's personal circumstances, including his worsening health.

The judge imposed a sentence of five years on the count of sexual assault to also run concurrently and directed that Daly's name be added to the register of sex offenders.