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Tyrone man facing charges including 'grooming children online' refused bail

A CO Tyrone man allegedly groomed children to commit online sex acts with siblings in a case involving potentially hundreds of victims, the High Court heard.

Michael Dynes also encouraged other women and girls to pose erotically on webcams for bogus modelling agency auditions, prosecutors claimed.

He is further accused of making secret "up-skirt" recordings of females, and viewing indecent images of children, extreme porn and even a so-called snuff movie where the victim was raped and then shot.

Details emerged as 39-year-old Dynes, of Rossin View in Dungannon, was refused bail.

Although he is currently charged with 16 offences as part of a major investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA), a judge was told the scale of the case is expected to increase significantly.

Dynes faces accusations of possessing and making indecent images, voyeurism, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and carrying out a sex act in the presence of a child.

The allegations cover a six-year period between 2009 and 2015.

NCA officers have examined three laptops, an external hard-drive and a USB stick.

Prosecution counsel Philip Henry said the inquiry started with a focus on banned material of all categories.

According to the barrister the probe has since branched out into several previously unseen areas of alleged pre-meditated and predatory grooming.

It was claimed that Dynes portrayed himself on websites as a female modelling agency representative so that women and girls would audition online for him.

He allegedly explained that his webcam was broken so that his true identity would not be revealed, Mr Henry said.

"Having conversations via instant messaging services he would ask them to adopt erotic poses."

The prosecutor went on to describe a second alleged set of offences where children were encouraged to commit sex acts over the internet.

"He (Dynes) would invite them to touch themselves... and he would incite them on some occasions to try and get their siblings to engage in that activity as well," he claimed.

Stressing the scale of the case, Mr Henry contended: "We are talking about hundreds of child victims."

The court heard Dynes is further accused of setting up a camera to film women in a private setting, including his workplace.

A judge was told Dynes has accepted some of those offences and identified four victims to police.

He also admitted viewing between three to five indecent images, but denies the other charges.

Bail was sought based on the delay in the case.

A defence lawyer argued Dynes has been in custody since last October and is unlikely to go on trial until next year.

Refusing the application, however, Mr Justice Colton held: "I consider the delay is not sufficient to amount to a significant change of circumstances."