Aspiring lawyer handed 12-month jail term with judge claiming he had “lied his head off”
A University of Hull law student has been jailed for 12 months after downloading 52 indecent images of children, in what he claimed was research for a postgraduate thesis in criminal law.
Kye Larvin (pictured below), 25, told the court he used the images to win the trust of sex offenders, so he could gain access to their world and subsequently interview them.
Despite failing to inform his academic supervisor of his shocking plan, Larvin said he then hoped to use the information he had gathered to form the basis of his postgraduate research.
According to online newspaper the Hull Daily Mail, Larvin told the court:
It was obviously a very idiotic and stupid thing to do, and very naïve. I really wanted to understand the people who can do this. And I wanted to compare that to some of the academic research that had been published. For access to a very closed off world, it’s essentially founded partly on trust. So, in essence, you had to court a persona in order to get access.
Larvin — who hoped to one day practise criminal law specialising in dangerous and sexual offences, having attended University of Hull Law School as an undergrad too — failed to take any notes during his interviews, fearing they would be seized by police.
According to the Hull Daily Mail, Larvin had admitted to the possession, making and distributing of indecent images, on the basis that it was for criminal law research.
Despite the law student’s protestations that the images were for nothing but academic purposes, Judge Mark Bury — clearly unconvinced — slammed the aspiring lawyer, telling him:
You have stood in the witness box and lied your head off.
Handing the law student a 12-month prison sentence and a sexual harm prevention order, Judge Bury continued:
You say that you have studied modules in criminal law. You have never discussed any of this with a supervisor and the reason is because it was not part of your undergraduate studies. You sent images to others on the understanding you were trying to get into the closed world of paedophilia. I consider it was fulfilling your sexual desires.
Larvin — who has been left with little to no hope of pursuing a career in law upon his release — will be listed on the sex offenders register for ten years.