A former vet who is facing multiple charges of sexual activity with animals and possession of child and extreme pornography is due to appear before the High Court later today after he was arrested by Gardai in Donegal last night.
Officers from the gardai’s Extradition Unit arrested Oliver Lown (35) at a location near Letterkenny on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by UK authorities, the Sunday World is reporting this afternoon.
It is understood that Lown -who has a string of previous convictions for similar offences in England for similar offences – had been based in Ireland for around a year.
A warrant was issued for his arrest at Suffolk Magistrates Court in December when Lown of Main Road, Kesgrave, Suffolk, failed to appear at the court sitting.
Lown is charged with possession of 1,067 extreme pornographic images and 3,511 extreme pornographic videos, possession of 0.6 grammes of heroin, and committing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice, on or before April 4, 2019.
He has also been charged with possessing 66 category A indecent images of a child, 36 category B indecent images of a child, and 33 category C indecent images of a child, between March 1, 2013 and April 5, 2019, and with possession of cannabis on August 28, 2019.
Lown is also charged with five counts of sexual activity with live animals between March 1, 2013 and November 27, 2019.
He is expected to be remanded custody at the High Court today pending the outcome of a full extradition hearing.
The former vet was first convicted of owning extreme pornography back in 2012.
In a separate court case in February, 2015, the court heard that the then 29-year-old was jailed for 24 weeks after he admitted to seven counts of possession of extreme pornography and ordered to sign the sex offenders register.
He was struck off by the UK College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2014 and told he would never be allowed to work with animals in the UK.
But the former vet was arrested again in January, 2014, when his former girlfriend alleged she had been assaulted.
Police raided his home and found laptops and DVDs containing videos of other people having sex with animals. No further action was taken over the assault claim.
Magistrates in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, heard in 2012 how Lown was identified in videos as the person having sex with a horse and a dog due to a green star shaped tattoo on his leg.
He was said to have been “engaging in sexual activity with a horse in a stable setting and a dog in a house setting.”
Lown admitted possessing extreme pornography offences at the time after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him for bestiality.
The court also heard how he had boasted online about his activities.
In July, 2014, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons struck him off, after finding him guilty of three charges of possessing bestiality images or videos, a charge of having sex with a horse and a dog and sending messages that referred to sexual activity with animals.
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