A convicted paedophile has had his sentence extended by two months after pictures of children were found in his cell.
And today Andrew Mark Byrne’s victim questioned how he was able to have images of children in prison.
Byrne, 39, was jailed for five years and five months in August 2015 after admitting four counts of indecent assault on a child, 30 counts of making indecent images and videos of children, and one count of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
This week the Deputy High Bailiff heard how, on April 12, movie posters were found on Byrne cell’s walls. Children were in some pictures. Byrne is forbidden from possessing pictures of children.
Byrne admitted the offence but had told prison staff he did not think it was a breach as he had more than 80 pictures relating to films because he was a movie fan. Only six of the posters, which Byrne had cut out of magazines, included children in the pictures.
Defending Byrne, advocate Paul Glover said: ‘Not all 80 related to children, there were six and they were films like ET.
‘The rest were general movies like Star Wars, Die Hard and Jaws. There were just six pictures of children. He is a big movie fan. It was just films that involved children, nothing indecent.’
Byrne’s victim was just eight when the abuse began in the early 90s. He was 15.
A report on Byrne at the time of his sentencing said he appeared to believe children were not harmed by abuse, but enjoyed it, and that he had formed this opinion by speaking to other child sex offenders at the prison.
Byrne also kept a diary in which he wrote of desires to rape and kill children.
Among entries Byrne wrote: ‘I would consider selling my soul to get away with it. I wish I was a vampire so I could kill them and never be caught. I’m beginning to think I’m evil. I feel a little guilty but it’s what I’m into. My future as a paedophile is my concern. They are treated worse than terrorists.’
Byrne had DVDs containing child pornography in boxes alongside mainstream movies. He also had two videos he had secretly filmed of children in Douglas.
The victim of his assaults, Sadie Sanders, now in her 30s, spoke to the Courier.
She and Lisa Taylor, a victim of another paedophile, waived the right of anonymity to campaign for tougher sentences for paedophiles.
In a statement, they said: ‘We are both finding it difficult to understand how he was able to keep images of children in his cell. Although they were not indecent, one has to ask why he was keeping them in the first place. You would think that images of children would not be available to him on any level.
‘If he is accumulating images in jail does that not show his lack of remorse for his actions and that he is not going to change his ways? When he comes out, will he be safe in our community if he is blatantly breaking the rules whilst incarcerated?’