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Sex predator student faces prison | Sex predator student faces prison |
(20 minutes later) | |
A student described by prosecutors as one of Scotland's most dangerous sexual predators has admitted 32 charges related to the abuse of children. | A student described by prosecutors as one of Scotland's most dangerous sexual predators has admitted 32 charges related to the abuse of children. |
Andrew Byrne, 20, used the internet to groom and abuse 20 children between September 2007 and July 2009. | Andrew Byrne, 20, used the internet to groom and abuse 20 children between September 2007 and July 2009. |
The High Court in Glasgow heard how he sexually assaulted some victims and subjected others to indecent behaviour. | The High Court in Glasgow heard how he sexually assaulted some victims and subjected others to indecent behaviour. |
He was caught during a police operation to snare internet paedophiles. Sentence on Byrne was deferred until next month. | He was caught during a police operation to snare internet paedophiles. Sentence on Byrne was deferred until next month. |
The court heard how the microbiology student from Glasgow University abused 11 girls and eight boys from across the UK who were aged between eight and 15 at the time. | |
Byrne, who lived in Glasgow's Byres Road, met the first girl in September 2007 through the MSN messenger service. | |
Andrew Byrne has been convicted of some of the most damaging and disturbing crimes that prosecutors ever encounter Michelle MacleodProcurator fiscal | |
He eventually got her to carry out sex acts via a webcam as the youngster thought they were in a "special relationship". | |
A 13-year-old girl from Manchester then met Byrne through another chat service. | |
Byrne travelled down twice to meet her in 2008 and 2009 and recorded them being involved in "explicit sexual activity". He later forwarded the images on to nine other people. | |
Byrne then had sex with two underage girls, aged 13 and 15, in 2008 at a flat in the Glasgow's Bridge Street. | |
He had sex with another 13-year-old girl after meeting her around Christmas 2008 in Fife. | |
Around the same time, he met a third 13-year-old on MSN and they had "heavy sexualised chat". | |
Sexual clip | |
Byrne later had intercourse with the teenager at his flat in Bridge Street. | |
During March last year, Byrne got in touch with a boy and girl, both aged 11, who came from Yorkshire. | |
He was eventually found with a sexual clip of the friends on his laptop. | |
Byrne then tried to get a 15 year-old girl to meet him for sex, but she repeatedly refused. | |
Last Easter, he got in touch with a 12-year-old girl on the Bebo social networking site. | |
He offered her £60 in exchange for sexual intercourse which she declined. | |
In May, Byrne chatted to a 14-year-old boy from Glasgow about having sex with him. | |
Soon after he was in regular contact with a 15-year-old who has since been convicted of abusing an eight-year-old boy. | |
The court heard how Byrne would ask this boy, via webcam, to perform sex acts on the eight-year-old and record it. | |
Byrne and the 15-year-old also had discussions about the possibility of raping the teenager's former girlfriend. | |
Indecent images | |
In June, he arranged to meet a 13-year-old boy from Edinburgh for sex, but the teenager did not appear. | |
He then had lurid conversations with two young girls on Bebo and MSN. He had similar contact with three boys, aged 13 and 14, about the same time. | |
Byrne was arrested in July last year after a search of his laptop during the hunt for the 13-year-old girl. | |
A total of 591 indecent images were discovered, about 60 of which were classified at the worst end of the scale used by the authorities. | |
Byrne told police that he chatted and arranged to meet children for the purposes of sex. | |
He admitted downloading "weird stuff" from the internet adding: "I don't know why I keep doing it." | |
Speaking after Byrne's conviction, Michelle Macleod, area procurator fiscal for Central Scotland, said: "Andrew Byrne has been convicted of some of the most damaging and disturbing crimes that prosecutors ever encountered." |