Co Galway ballet teacher jailed for child sexual abuse in Mayo

Leighton Morrison, a 49-year-old ballet instructor from Tuam in County Galway, has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment with the final twelve months suspended following his conviction for sexually abusing two young girls during dance classes in County Mayo. Morrison pleaded guilty to six sample charges encompassing thirteen separate offences committed between January 2023 and June 2024. The crimes took place within a costume storage room at dance schools Morrison operated across Mayo and Galway. The victims, aged eight and nine at the time, were subjected to sexual assault while attending the classes. Morrison recorded the abuse for his own gratification, a factor that influenced the severity of sentencing. In addition to the assault charges, he was convicted of child exploitation and possession and production of child sexual abuse material. Gardaí recovered mobile phones and a laptop containing hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse material. The extent of Morrison's digital collection underscored the systematic nature of his offending over the eighteen-month period. At Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Eoin Garavan described Morrison as posing a grave danger to children and stated he would never be permitted unsupervised access to minors. The judge emphasised the severity of deliberately recording the abuse, framing it as conduct undertaken for personal gratification. The victims' mothers provided impact statements detailing the profound and ongoing psychological trauma inflicted on their daughters by Morrison's actions. Morrison has remained in custody since July 2024, and his sentence was backdated to that date. Upon release, he has been ordered to undertake probation supervision, counselling, and completion of a sexual offenders' programme as conditions of his supervised release.