A male ballet teacher who recorded himself sexually abusing two girls in a costume room during dance classes in County Mayo has been sentenced to eight years in prison, with 12 months suspended.
Leighton Morrison (49) of Woodfield, Galway Road, Tuam, pleaded guilty to six sample charges from a total of 13 offences committed between January 2023 and June 2024.
The charges include two separate counts of sexual assault against an eight-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl, exploitation of a child, and possession and production of child pornography.
The mothers of both children delivered lengthy and powerful victim impact statements at a hearing in Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court earlier this week.
One mother appealed for children to be better protected against predators, while the other mother described the abuse as a ‘life sentence’ for her daughter.
‘She will never get her childhood back. It was taken away from her in the most cruel way,’ said this woman, adding that their family had been ‘completely broken’.
Passing sentence today (THURSDAY), Judge Eoin Garavan said that no matter how long Morrison remains in jail, he will remain a paedophile and a grave danger to children.
He said it was extremely aggravating that Morrison had videoed himself committing the abuse to ensure a permanent record of it for his own deviant sexual gratification.
The court heard Morrison is at high risk of recidivism and can never have unsupervised access to children again.
‘He totally robbed these young children of their innocence and childhood,’ said Judge Garavan, adding that they would never get over the trauma of the ‘appalling abuse’.
Gardaí seized two mobile phones and a laptop from Morrison’s home containing thumbnail images and videos of the sexual assaults and other child sexual abuse material.
One Samsung phone contained 339 ‘category one’ images depicting child sexual activity and 853 ‘category two’ images depicting child exposure.
The court heard that the other phone was severely damaged, gardaí believe deliberately, but that once it was repaired it was found to contain thumbnail images from video screenshots of one of the sexual assaults.
Morrison ran a number of dance schools across County Mayo and County Galway, the court heard.
He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since July 2, 2024.
His sentence was backdated to that date and Morrison was ordered to undergo probation supervision for a year post-release, during which time he must get counselling and undertake a sexual offenders’ programme.
The court heard the parents of the two girls had no difficulty with Morrison being named, but wish to retain their children’s anonymity.
A probation report said Morrison had expressed remorse and appeared to have insight into his offending.
The court heard he was sexually abused as a child and had issues with alcohol abuse.
