RTÉ to liaise with Gardaí to see if paedophile Kieran Creaven committed crimes while on duty

Director general Dee Forbes issued a statement yesterday evening in which she said the national broadcaster was “appalled” to learn details of the disgraced producer’s “abhorrent crimes” following his sentencing on Friday.

He received a 10-year custodial sentence at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sexually assaulting a child, child exploitation and child pornography in Ireland, the UK and the Philippines.

Creaven (59) of Adelaide Street in Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including four counts of child exploitation, two counts of sexually assaulting a child and four counts of possession of child pornography for sexually abusing children in Ireland, the UK and the Philippines between 2014 and 2017.

He was also sentenced to 18 months in prison in March 2018 in the UK but was released after serving 10 months after he pleaded guilty to sexually grooming whom he thought was a 13-year-old girl in Leeds, England in November 2017.

The girl turned out to be a decoy used by a vigilante group in the UK called Predator Exposure (PE) which forwarded on emails and photos of his genitals to Leeds Police which he had unwittingly sent to PE believing it to be a 13-year-old girl. He he had intended to spend the night with the girl after travelling there and was caught during a sting operation by PE.

Creaven, worked for 15 years at RTÉ as a sports producer and travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia in that capacity.

However the national broadcaster last night confirmed that trips Creaven made to Kenya, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines were not in connection with his work.

RTÉ dismissed Creaven with immediate effect after he pleaded guilty to the sex offences in the UK in 2018.

Meanwhile, in her statement, Ms Forbes said: “While RTÉ provided assistance to An Garda Síochána as requested during its investigation, RTÉ was not privy to the details of these crimes revealed by the Garda investigation in court.

"RTÉ is now seeking clarification from An Garda Síochána regarding the investigation.”