April 2019 Businessman who had lawful sex with girl of 16 jailed for taking photos of her A businessman who had lawful sex with a girl of 16 has been jailed for taking photographs of her. Darren Flynn, 39, knew how old the girl was when he met her. He initially ignored her approaches but later agreed to meet her. He told police when they had met up, the girl had been drunk and had performed a sex act on him. On a later occasion she asked to try on some of his ex-girlfriend’s underwear. Flynn claimed the girl had asked him to take photographs, and he took two. He later deleted them. Today, a judge told him that while a man of his age having sex with a girl of 16 was “morally reprehensible”, it was not illegal. But Judge Rhys Rowlands, sitting at Mold crown court, said taking photographs of a girl of 16 “plainly was”. It was  a matter of public policy that offered protection protection to young girls, Judge Rowlands said. Such photographs had the potential to fall into the wrong hands and could come back to haunt them years later. He added the number of images were small, but they remained disturbing and serious offences. They were made more serious by the discrepancy in their ages – he being 38 at the time and she 16. Judge Rowlands said that Flynn’s pre-sentence report was not particularly helpful and his attitude “left a lot to be desired”. References spoke of a different side of his character. He had pleaded guilty and he was in work, running a profitable business. He was being dealt with for offences that took place in August 2017 and he had stayed out of trouble since then. Judge Rowlands said it was suggested in court that he was willing to engage with the probation service to address his behaviour, but that was in direct contrast to the opinion of a probation officer who interviewed him. She took the view he was not motivated to co-operate with intervention and felt that he had little grasp of just how serious his behaviour was. Taking category C images  – the least serious category – of a child had an 18-month starting point, and the sentence could go up to three years, the judge warned. Judge Rowlands said that in his judgement the fact that he had little or no insight into just how wrong his behaviour was meant that the degree 
of contrition was rather less than it would otherwise be. It was not possible to suspend the inevitable prison sentence, he said. Flynn, 39 of Trem y Don, Llysfaen, admitted two charges of taking indecent photographs of the girl and was jailed for eight months. He was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for ten years March 2019 40-year-old Llysfaen man admits taking indecent photographs of 16-year-old partner A girl in a relationship with a 40-year-old man encouraged him to take indecent photographs of her, a court was told. Darren Flynn sent the pictures to the girl by phone but when he realized how young she was he broke off the relationship. James Neary, prosecuting at Llandudno magistrates’ court, said it was an unusual case but the images were found on Flynn’s phone. When interviewed, the 16-year-old girl said she didn’t want to make a complaint. “They had a brief sexual relationship and he took them with her consent but when he realized the age gap be ended it,” said Mr Neary. Flynn, of Trem y Don, Llysfaen, Colwyn Bay, pleaded guilty to two charges of taking indecent photographs of a child. Nia Dawson, defending, told the court: “She was a very willing participant: she asked him to take them.” She stressed that the photographs had not been shown to anyone else. District Judge Gwyn Jones bailed Flynn to appear at Caernarfon crown court for sentence on April 12.