Aaron Livingstone was sentenced in Downpatrick Crown Court today (Wednesday)
A 24-year-old man from Monea who downloaded images of children being sexually abused escaped jail today (Wednesday) with a five month suspended jail term.
Aaron Livingstone (24), who spent the last two days in jail awaiting sentence, did however receive a stern warning from Downpatrick Crown Court Judge Gordon Kerr QC that “I hope you have had a flavour of what awaits you if you reoffend” in the next three years.
At an earlier hearing filmmaker Livingstone, from the Leighan Road, Monea, entered guilty pleas to six counts of making indecent images of children on 5 January 2012.
Judge Kerr heard that Livingstone admitted to police that he has a penchant for kinky sex involving bondage and domination with models dressed as vampires or in a gothic style.
He also heard that in June 2009, Livingstone was given a police caution when he admitted having sex with a 14-year-old girl who was in care and that his possession of six images of children being abused came to light when the police officer mother of an English schoolgirl uncovered that Livingstone and her 14-year-old daughter had been exchanging explicit pictures, text messages and e-mails when her daughters phone bill came in at £300.
Prosecuting lawyer David McDowell outlined how police found six images on a tablet when they raided his former home in Dundonald.
Of the six images, the lawyer said there were four classified in the least serious category at level one with one image at level two but added that the last image was categorised at level four, describing how that depicted the rape of a six-year-old girl by an adult.
Mr McDowell told the court Livingstone initially denied having a mobile phone, claiming he had lost it but then admitted it might have been at his grandmothers house so he was allowed to retrieve it.
In an attempt to thwart the police investigation Livingstone took the phone apart and hid it’s parts in his sisters car but during later police interviews, he admitted contacting the English schoolgirl through the “vampire freaks” website and exchanging explicit texts and phonecalls.
He told police he was interested in a particular sex act as well as bondage and sadomasochism, particularly “with people dressed in a vampire style” and it was while searching for that type of pornography that the indecent images of children were inadvertently downloaded.
Mr McDowell said however that by his guilty pleas, Livingstone had abandoned those claims, adding that the abuse the six year old girl suffered was an aggravating feature as it was “particularly repugnant and likely to have resulted in injury.”
Today (Wednesday) Judge Kerr said: “it doesn’t need to be emphasised the abhorrence the court views such an image” and that those who look at images being abused “encourage others to subject children to grave and damaging conduct.”
He said that despite Livingstone’s caution for inciting sexual activity with a 14-year-old schoolgirl and the revelations from his mobile phone, he was not assessing him as a dangerous offender because he has not specifically searched for the images, had not saved them into a separate computer file and that a psychiatric report indicated “no entrenched evidence of paedaphilia.”
The judge said his guilty plea, late though it was, deserved a certain amount of credit as did his expressions of remorse.
In addition to the suspended jail term, Judge Kerr ordered Livingstone to sign the police sex offenders register for seven years and abide by an eight year Sexual Offences Prevention Order which bars the pervert from owning or using a computer without monitoring software, contacting or associating with children, working with children, residing anywhere without prior approval and from loitering near child centres facilities.
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