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A nursing student downloaded sexual images of children as young as four, a court has heard. Niamh O’Brian, 20, of Heol Cynwyd, Llangynwyd, Maesteg, was found by police to have possessed and distributed indecent images, both still and moving, of children.
Police visited O’Brian at her home and at the University Hospital of Wales, where she was on work placement as a nurse. After she was cautioned, officers seized a number of devices where more than 100 images of children aged between four and 11 were found. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here.
O’Brian initially said she was investigating the websites where the images were downloaded, adding: “I am not interested in child pornography, I am not interested in children… my only interest was to report the account containing the images. I know now how damaging that looks.”
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Messages on a Telegram account on one of the devices showed the defendant had distributed several child pornography and bestiality images (including one still and six moving images of children in category A, the most serious type), and had messaged another user to speak about fantasies relating to rape and child sexual abuse.
O’Brian was charged with three counts of possession of indecent photographs of children – categories A, B, and C – as well as possession of extreme pornographic images involving sex with a dog, distribution of indecent images of children and publication of an obscene article. She pleaded guilty to all of the offences at Newport Magistrates’ Court on June 11, 2024 and was sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Tuesday, August 20.
In mitigation, O’Brian’s defence counsel Adam Sharp said the defendant had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, was of prior clean character and described the offences as “out of character.” O’Brian was training to be a nurse and was 19 at the time of the offences, the court heard.
He said the defendant came from a “normal, loving and very close family” and did well at school, where she was head girl. She has expressed “genuine, not self-serving” remorse, Mr Sharp said, adding: “In every sense she wears the shame of her actions.”
Sentencing O’Brian, Mr Recorder Greg Bull said: “Whilst you were 19 you indulged in viewing and distributing pornography of the most disgusting type… a child is involved in the act that is depicted… a child is abused, their lives are ruined and they are never likely to recover from what befalls them. While people like you watch and crave images like this, it encourages people who make money out of treating children this way to carry on.”
The judge said O’Brian was an “intelligent woman” but “naive and immature”, and may not have had “the thinking of a proper adult” during her offending. The judge noted her early guilty pleas, prospect of rehabilitation and the fact she has been dropped from her nursing degree and will now find it difficult to get a job.
However he also pointed out the specific fact that the defendant distributed images. O’Brian was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment for the lead offence, the distribution of Category A images, and a concurrent six months for the other offences. But the judge said O’Brian’s “genuine contrition” and prospect of rehabilitation meant her sentence could be suspended for two years, meaning she will only serve time in a young offenders’ institute if she breaches the conditions of the sentence.
She must also do 200 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation. A sexual harm prevention order was imposed and O’Brian will be added to the sex offenders’ register, both for 10 years. She must also pay a surcharge.
