Former Teacher Jailed for Child Abuse Images

A disgraced former primary school teaching assistant from Newport has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after being caught with category A child abuse images on his mobile phone 📱⚖️

Daniel Beatty, 33, of Capel Crescent, Newport, was previously jailed for three years in 2015 for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy whilst working at a city school. He has now returned to court after breaking the conditions of his indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Beatty was found with two category A indecent images – the most serious classification – showing “the penetration of pre-pubescent boys,” prosecutor Kathryn Lane told the court.

The defendant also breached his sexual harm prevention order by having unsupervised contact with a 15-year-old boy, though conversations were described as non-sexual and mainly about gaming. He additionally failed to complete his annual sex offender register notification requirements on time.

Beatty pleaded guilty to all three offences, which occurred between March 2023 and March 2024.

His barrister Sol Hartley asked for a community sentence, citing prison overcrowding and arguing there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

However, Judge Simon Mills imposed immediate custody, telling Beatty: “You deliberately chose to defy the sexual harm prevention order. You pose a high risk to male children. Indecent images are pictures of real children being sexually abused by evil adults.”

Beatty was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and must pay a statutory victim surcharge. His mobile phone was ordered to be destroyed, and he remains subject to lifelong sex offender registration and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.