February 2015
Judge’s anger at ‘predatory sex offender’ who thought he was ‘untouchable’
A judge has today blasted a ‘disgraceful’ and ‘very dangerous’ predatory sex offender who preyed on girls as young as 12.
Billy Byrne, 22, of Rowland Way, Aylesbury, was found guilty of a string of sex offences after a five day trial.
He preyed on three girls and groomed them via texts and Facebook, pestering them to send him naked photos of themselves and asking them to have sex with him.
He had unprotected sex with one of the victims when she was 15 in a farmer’s field.
Judge Francis Sheridan, sitting at Aylesbury Crown Court, told him: “You are a thoroughly predatory paedophile and I think you are very dangerous.
“Your mother cherished you as her blue-eyed boy and you thought you were untouchable, but the law is dead against you on that.
“I find it quite unbelievable what you were prepared to do to put pressure on young girls as young as 12, 13, 14 in order to have your wicked way with them.
“You displayed disgraceful arrogance in walking away from those very vulnerable and helpless young girls, leaving them with no feelings whatsoever.
“There is heartache on both sides. There are no winners in a case like this.”
Family members were heard crying in the public gallery and on leaving the court.
His mother said: “I’m a mess, make sure you put that in the paper!”
Byrne’s first victim was just 12 when he met her at a friend’s sleepover in early 2010 and they exchanged numbers.
The pair became friends on Facebook and Byrne persitently asked the victim to send him naked photographs of herself.
Byrne then pestered her for sex, saying ‘he could do things to her’ if she ‘would do things to him’.
The contact came to an end when the victim began a new relationship and made this known on Facebook.
His second victim was 14 when Byrne asked her to meet him at the Edinburgh Playing Fields in Southcourt – known as The Eddy – in December 2011, but as it was dark and raining she refused.
He then asked her to meet him in Mandeville Park to ‘hang out, to kiss, to have sex’, and she agreed.
On that occasion, the pair enaged in sexual activity but did not have full sex.
Byrne met the victim’s friend and asked for her phone number, and she agreed because ‘she was happy someone was interested in her and tell her they loved her, and she didn’t want to p*** him off’.
He asked the victim to meet him again in September 2012 when she was 15. This time he had unprotected sex with her in a farmer’s field, but the jury heard how the victim became worried that she was pregnant and confided in a teacher at school.
On New Year’s Eve 2012, the victim’s parents were told that Byrne had had sex with their daughter and the police were called.
When police arrested Byrne and seized his iPhone and laptop, they found text messages, Facebook messages and WhatsApp where Byrne talked graphically about sex.
When the laptop was examined by police, more than a thousand indecent images were found, including six which are classed as category A, the most serious level.
Byrne’s third victim was also 12 when she first met him in 2007 but they did not begin a relationship until she was 14, which spanned the time when Byrne was 17 and 18.
Again he pestered her to send him nude photos of herself and she described how she eventually ‘cracked’ and sent him naked photos when she was 14 and 15.
Though she stopped this when the relationship ended, she was subjected to a further ordeal when Byrne sent the indecent images on to others.
Byrne will be remanded in police custody and is awaiting a psychiatric assessment.
He has been placed on the sex offenders’ register and will next appear at Aylesbury Crown Court on March 20th.
Jude Francis Sheridan added: “I have paid tribute to the care and attention the jury has taken on this case.
“This was a disgusting and horrible case for any jury should endure, but you have worked diligently from start to finish.
“I am going to excuse you from jury service for the next 10 years to show the court’s gratitude. Thank you.
Byrne was found guilty of:
> three counts of sexual activity with a child
> one count of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography
> eleven counts of possessing indecent photographs of a child
> one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image
> four counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child
He was cleared of one count of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography.
