Co Galway Ballet teacher jailed for Child Sexual Abuse in Mayo – Long Read

Published on 6 November 2025Courts Reporting

The parents of two girls who were sexually assaulted by their ballet teacher in a costume storage room in County Mayo have appealed for children to be better protected against predators.

Leighton Morrison (49) videoed himself sexually assaulting the children, aged eight and nine, in separate incidents, after making them wear inappropriate clothing, a court has heard.

Morrison of Woodfield, Galway Road, Tuam, Co Galway, was sentenced to eight years in prison with the final year suspended at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court today.

He had pleaded guilty to six sample charges from a total of 13 offences committed on dates between January 2023 and June 2024.

The charges include two separate counts of sexual assault against an eight-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl, exploitation of a child, and possession and production of child pornography.

The court heard Morrison ran three schools of dance across County Mayo and Galway and had previously had a successful career as a ballet dancer.

A probation report said he was at high risk of reoffending and would never have unsupervised access to children again.

At a court hearing earlier this week, the mothers of the two children delivered lengthy and powerful victim impact statements detailing the traumatic effects of the abuse on their daughters and families.

One mother said her daughter’s life was ruined and her childhood taken away from her ‘in the most cruel way’.

She said her once happy-go-lucky little girl had endured years of anxiety, health problems and nightmares since joining the dance class, biting her fingernails until they bled.

‘At a very young age this little girl has had to defend herself from an evil most grown-ups will never have to know. She didn’t understand. She tried to rationalise it and carry it silently, not to burden anyone,’ said the mother.

‘It’s devastating for us that this little girl has endured so much alone,’ she said.

She described bringing her daughter to a toyshop on her 8th birthday but she had lost all interest in toys and couldn’t pick a toy.

‘She recently told me she will always be afraid of the monsters going to sleep,’ she said.

‘She will never be the same. She will never get her childhood back. She has already lost years of what was supposed to be the happiest time of her life,’ she said.

‘We are completely broken. It has broken us, it has taken a piece of us that we will never get back. The stress and strain on us has been enormous, unbearable, but it is nothing compared to what she has endured. It is a life sentence for her,’ she said.

The mother of the other victim described the pain, frustration, humiliation and anger that has been building up since the offences, as well as the physical and emotional trauma suffered by her daughter.

She said her daughter used to be happy and full of life, always singing and dancing around the house, but that this has stopped and that sometimes she just lies on the floor not doing anything.

Her daughter has expressed feelings of hating herself and blaming herself and suffered a year of health difficulties since the offence.

The woman said it was incredibly distressing for her daughter to have to be examined at a Sexual Assault Treatment Centre, describing tears streaming down her face.

‘The emotional toll this has taken on us has ultimately affected our mental and physical health,’ she said, describing her husband as ‘a lost soul’.

‘Perhaps what we truly need is to be heard and respected, and for justice to be done, and for children to be better protected from such predators,’ the woman said.

Passing sentence today, Judge Eoin Garavan said that no matter how long Morrison remains in jail, he will remain a paedophile, at high risk of recidivism and a grave danger to children.

He said it was extremely aggravating that Morrison had videoed himself committing the abuse to ensure a permanent record of it for his own deviant sexual gratification.

The court heard Morrison can never have unsupervised access to children again.

‘He totally robbed these young children of their innocence and childhood,’ said Judge Garavan, adding that they would never get over the trauma of the ‘appalling abuse’.

Gardaí seized two mobile phones and a laptop from Morrison’s home containing thumbnail images and videos of the sexual assaults and other child sexual abuse material.

One Samsung phone contained 339 ‘category one’ images depicting child sexual activity and 853 ‘category two’ images depicting child exposure.

The court heard that the other phone was severely damaged, gardaí believe deliberately, but that once repaired it was found to contain thumbnail images from video screenshots of one of the sexual assaults.

Morrison has no previous convictions and has been in custody since July 2, 2024.

His sentence was backdated to that date and Morrison was ordered to undergo probation supervision for a year post-release, during which time he must get counselling and complete a sex offenders’ programme.

The court heard the parents of the two girls had no difficulty with Morrison being named, but wanted to retain their children’s anonymity.

A prosecuting garda told Pat Reynolds BL, for the State, that the abuse came to light in March 2024, after the then nine-year-old girl was collected from her ballet class by her father.

The father noticed that she was not her normal, bubbly self and when he asked what was wrong, she said something had happened with her teacher, Leighton Morrison.

She later told her mother that Morrison had made her wear underwear with the crotch cut out, and had touched her inappropriately.
The court heard that the child had attended a Stay Safe programme in school weeks earlier which had enhanced her awareness of inappropriate behaviour.

The parents contacted gardaí the following day and also spoke to another mother, who said her daughter had been sexually assaulted by Morrisson, possibly a year earlier, at the same dance school.

Gardaí searched Morrison’s home and also the building where the classes had been held, including the storage area used by the school as a changing room and for keeping costumes.

The child was interviewed by specialist gardaí and said she had no choice but to do as Morrison asked as he was the adult.

She said Morrison had asked her to try on a costume and a ‘very inappropriate knicker thing’, before putting his finger on her private parts and saying ‘it needs to be stretched.’

The child said she was near tears when Morrison zipped down her top and touched her, and that she had burst out crying on the journey home.

The second child told her mother that Morrison once helped her change her clothes which she found strange as she could dress herself.

She described two occasions when he touched her genitals and she felt embarrassed and uncomfortable and did not know if he meant it or not.

The child said she did not want ‘to be rude and get away’ so she just sat there as he was touching her.

The court heard that Morrison’s two phones and laptop were sent to the National Garda Cyber Crime Bureau, where a terabyte of data was recovered.

A video of 2’22” duration was seized of the nine-year-old girl being assaulted, which Morrison forwarded to his other phone.

This second phone, although severely damaged by Morrison, was found to contain thumbnail sprites, or screenshots, from two videos of the second victim being assaulted.

The children were unaware that they were being recorded, the court heard.

Morrison was arrested and made no comment during four garda interviews.

The court heard that Morrison gave gardaí the PIN numbers to his devices and told gardaí he was sorry.

Desmond Dockery SC, defending, said Morrison had publicly asked him to offer his deepest apologies for his perversions, his depravity and his criminality.

Counsel said Morrison’s actions were selfish and premeditated and that he had abused his position and authority as the owner and provider of the ballet classes, as well as abusing the trust of parents.

A probation report said Morrison had expressed remorse and appeared to have insight into his offending.

He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, counsel said.

The court heard Morrison had a difficult childhood and had been physically, emotionally and sexually abused.

Counsel said Morrison, originally from the UK, had performed ballet worldwide at a high level.

He settled in Ireland but experienced the collapse of his business and isolation during Covid which led to his increasing reliance on alcohol and descent into viewing child pornography.

Judge Garavan described Morrison as a ‘type of Billy Elliot’, who came from a working class background and had so much talent and so much going for him, but had gone on to cause so much destruction, turmoil and long term negative consequences.

‘His reputation is in tatters,’ said the judge.

Judge Garavan said there was no evidence that Morrison had distributed any of what he called the ‘dreadful videos’, which he ordered to be destroyed forthwith.

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