IN THE first case of its kind, a disabled civil servant, who performed a lewd act in front of a 13-year-old girl over the internet, was jailed yesterday in Northern Ireland and put on the sex offenders' register for life.
Paul Kevin Kearney (43) performed an indecent act on himself during a live webcam link between his home and the child's home in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.
Kearney, Sullivan Close, Holywood, Co Down, committed the lewd act as the teenager watched from her home computer, after he had befriended her in a chatroom.
Cerebral palsy sufferer Kearney pleaded guilty at Downpatrick Crown Court to committing an act of gross indecency with or towards a child in January 2007.
Kearney, who has physical and mental handicaps, was jailed for three years, two of which will be served on probation, and banned from having access to the internet and a webcam and working with children.
The court heard he befriended the girl on the MSN Facebook chatroom. The prosecuting lawyer said Kearney eventually got the girl to accept a live webcam transmission, during which, "without any warning", he began to perform an indecent act in full view of the girl.
The girl immediately cut the transmission, told her mother what had happened and also claimed that "Paul" had asked to meet her in Carrickfergus. A complaint was made to police who traced Kearney, who after an initial denial, confessed.
Eugene Grant QC, defending Kearney, said he had a previously clear record and a "particularly sad, dysfunctional and tragic life".
A police spokesman welcomed the sentence and the clear message it sent to internet perverts.