Wirral kids charity boss admits sadistic sex attacks

Mar 23 2010 by Chloe Griffiths, Liverpool Echo

A CHILDREN’S charity boss has admitted sadistic sex attacks on four prostitutes.

Matthew Byrne, 38, got his victims to dress up as young schoolgirls before carrying out horrific sex assaults on them at his Wirral home.

Liverpool crown court heard the senior charity worker tied up, gagged and strangled his victims for his own sexual pleasure.

He then used a cane to repeatedly beat the women as they lay helplessly tied to his bed while he carried out obscene acts.

Byrne also admitted using a sexual implement to torture one of his victims.

In another attack he repeatedly whipped his victim until her blood sprayed over his bedroom walls.

He then used a plastic bag to suffocate the women until she saw black spots in front of her eyes and believed she was going to die. After being released the woman discovered she had 40 whipmarks to her body and legs.

When police raided Byrne’s Tollemache Street home, in New Brighton, they discovered he had turned a bedroom into a sick torture chamber. Officers discovered a double bed with shackles to each bed post, a leather collar, a cane, rope, tape, girls clothing and sexual implements.

They also found a collection of violent pornography, while his computer revealed he had accessed a string of sadistic websites.

DNA and blood from Byrne’s victims was also uncovered.

Byrne, who ran the Young Person’s Advisory Service, used to work with children as young as 10.

He was due to stand trial on a total of 24 charges at Liverpool crown court yesterday.

But at the eleventh hour the charity worker changed some of his pleas.

He pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual assault and one of assault by penetration between July 1, 2008, and May 31, 2009.

Byrne also admitted four charges of making indecent images of children.

Wearing khaki trousers and a check shirt, bespectacled Byrne showed no emotion as he admitted carrying out the vicious assaults.

At an earlier hearing in January, Byrne had already admitted six charges of possessing obscene images of children.

Those charges represented a total of nearly 9,000 images.