Aron Stacey, a martial arts instructor in Lancashire, has been sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to online child sexual abuse offences and refusing to disclose his phone passcode to police.
Stacey, 38, from Accrington, east Lancashire, ran Aztec Martial Arts and exchanged disturbing child abuse images and videos with an Israeli man via a photo-sharing website. The two also communicated about their illicit interests online.
Police arrested Stacey in September 2017. Despite his role teaching children, safeguarding checks revealed no prior complaints or reports from his students. Investigators found indecent images on his Asus laptop and Samsung phone. Many of these were linked to a Skype account named “aztecmartialarts” that featured Stacey’s photograph.
At Preston Crown Court, Stacey pleaded guilty to multiple charges including making 11 category A (the most severe) child abuse images, possessing one category B and 27 category C images, distributing one category A image, possessing extreme pornography involving sexual acts with animals, and failing to provide his phone passcode to the police.
During interviews with National Crime Agency (NCA) officers, Stacey remained mostly silent, only stating that his laptop was second hand without further explanation. The NCA was able to bypass the phone’s encryption after Stacey refused to share the passwords.
Hazel Stewart, NCA operations manager, stated, “Offenders cannot hide behind encryption and evade justice. Behind every sexual abuse image is a child whose life has been utterly devastated. Men like Stacey fuel that suffering and keep the vile market alive.”
Stewart also noted a significant increase in UK referrals of child sexual abuse material, rising from 43,072 in 2016 to 113,948 in 2018. Approximately 500 offenders are arrested and 700 children safeguarded monthly by UK police and the NCA.
If you are concerned about child safety, visit the Thinkuknow website. This education programme helps children and teenagers understand and reduce the risks of sexual abuse and exploitation both online and offline. Additionally, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation operates the confidential Stop It Now! helpline, offering advice to those worried about their own or others’ behaviour towards children.
Originally published by UKNIP.
