Shamed Bridgerton actor has had a lucky escape after he was spared prison after being caught with hundreds of child abuse images
The Bridgerton actor and West End theatre worker Kieren Curran, 23, was shocked when police arrived at his Ealing, West London property after a tip off. During the raid police found images of children as young as five on his phone and laptop.
The actor and stuntman who has appeared in Bridgerton and 1917 appeared at Harrow Crown Court. The court heard that the actor downloaded hundreds of six child abuse images and also traded them on Instagram.
Kieren Curran who also has stage credits and is an assistant director for the Amazon Prime series Red, White and Royal Blue, avoided prison for his sick crimes.
The judge passed a sentence of eight-months suspended for two years. He was warned that he cannot commit another crime for two years. If he does commit another crime, he will be sent to prison.
Prosecuting Mr Phillips said: “He said I am guilty, I have loads of images in an account. He had used the Instagram account to trade images and said he had a problem… And said he had attempted to kill himself because he hated what he had done.”
When the police raided Kieren Curran home, they recovered an iPhone, Macbook, and San Disk USB with 293 images, which included children between the ages of five and 14 years old.
Mr Phillips said: “There is one moving image in Category A of an eight to 12-year-old girl. There is description of her wrenching and her eyes watering during sexual activity.”
In an interview with police, he admitted collating the images, but said it was ‘a way of self-harm to himself’.
Kieren Curran was after two years of the raid charged with seven offences. These were two counts for Category A, three for Category B, and two for Category C.
Ms Fairbairn defending Kieren Curran said the actor was of previous good character. She went on to say that Kieren had shown remorse and had downloaded a ‘relatively small’ number of images.
In his final remarks, Judge Kaplan said: “I must leave you in no doubt of the serious nature of these types of offences and make it very clear to you that I think you now accept these are most certainly not victimless crimes and the court is most concerned about the nature and number of photographs in these offences.”
Judge Kaplan said the “appalling offences” automatically deserved a prison sentence, but he determined Curran’s good character and time spent on bail meant he was not an immediate danger to the public.
The Bridgerton actor was given eight months suspended for two years for two counts of Category A, three months suspended for two years for two counts of Category B, and one month suspended for two years for two counts of Category C.
He was also ordered to pay £494 in costs, to do 40 hours of unpaid work, 30 days of rehabilitation, and the complete the Horizon programme for internet sexual offenders.
Since news has broken about the sentence, fans of the show and those aiming to track down sex offenders have said they are shocked at the light sentence.
