Paedophile student jailed for six years

Published 28 Jul 2010 11:42

A SEX BEAST student who systematically groomed children for abuse online has had a Lifelong Restriction Order imposed on him.

Paedophile Andrew Bryne (21) was also jailed for six years for a horrific catalogue of offences against boys and girls - aged 8-15 - which were uncovered following a major Central Scotland Police investigation.

'Operation Defender' began after a vulnerable 14-year-old girl went missing from home in Clackmannanshire in May last year.

It was discovered she had been in contact with a number of males, including Byrne, and it was later discovered he had met her when she was 13 and had sex with her.

Byrne, a former Glasgow University microbiology student, admitted a total of 32 charges, including four offences of underage sex with girls, indecency, child pornography possession and distribution between 2007 and last year.

The internet predator, formerly of Byres Road, Glasgow, preyed on 19 youngsters during a 22-month period. But police said they traced almost 250 children in Britain who he had contacted.

Bryne appeared for sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh last Wednesday.

Judge Lord Brailsford said a risk assessment carried out on Byrne stated he could be considered as posing a risk of sexual violence to the general public, particularly children. A psychologist warned Byrne may attack a child or adult, potentially leading to the loss of their life.

Lord Brailsford said that he was "quite satisfied" that the terms were met for imposing an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) on the sex offender.

He told pony-tailed Byrne, "It remains for me to fix the determinate part of the sentence which you require to spend in custody before your can be considered for release."

The judge ordered that he should serve a minimum term under the order of six years, but backdated it until July 20 last year. That means Byrne could seek his release from jail in five years' time.

Lord Brailsford said he accepted that Byrne had fully co-operated with the investigating and prosecution authorities since his arrest and that had not only avoided the need for a trial, but has helped bring prosecutions in other cases.

The judge told him he would have faced a minimum term of eight years, but for his guilty pleas.

Under an OLR - reserved for the most serious cases of sexual and violent offending short of murder - an offender must serve the minimum term set, but any decision to free him is taken by the Parole Board. If released he is kept under supervision for the rest of his life.

Byrne regularly used computers and accessed social networking sites such as Bebo and MSN to target his child victims.

The investigation into Byrne discovered that he had targeted 11 girls and eight boys, with the victims ranging in aged between eight and 15. When he was arrested a total of 591 indecent images of children and child abuse were found on computer equipment, along with more than 110 movie files.

Byrne met his first victim in September 2007 through the MSN messenger service and got her to carry out sex acts via a webcam as the girl thought they were in "a special relationship".

He went on to contact other children, taking photographs showing explicit sexual activity and sharing the images via a computer, having underage sex with girls aged 13 and 15, and recording the abuse of an eight-year-old boy by an older boy while appearing to direct them in what to do.

He also had a video clip of two 11-year-old school friends performing sex acts with the girl wearing part of her school uniform. Chat logs recovered from Byrne's computer showed he had built up a relationship with the boy.

Byrne was finally caught when he made arrangements to meet up in Dundee with two 13-year-old girls, but was arrested by police.

Defence counsel Brian McConnachie QC said Byrne had developed "something of a loner personality" and started accessing pornography, before moving onto child pornography and contacting the children in the offences.

Area procurator fiscal for Central Scotland Michelle MacLeod earlier said, "Andrew Byrne has been convicted of some of the most damaging and disturbing crimes that prosecutors ever encountered."

Byrne was put on the sex offenders' register.

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