Nathan Berry, aged 38, of Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, has been sentenced to an extended custodial term of 13 years and four months at Cardiff Crown Court after exploiting his trusted professional roles to target and sexually abuse vulnerable, non-verbal children.
Berry was employed as a swimming instructor based at Penarth Leisure Centre and simultaneously operated as an allocated personal support assistant caring for disabled children living with severe non-verbal autism. South Wales Police launched an investigation into his conduct and arrested him in March 2026.
Upon his arrest, officers seized Berry’s mobile devices for forensic inspection, uncovering a catalogue of hundreds of indecent photographs depicting children. Berry disclosed the identities of the victims to investigating detectives, with the children’s parents subsequently attending formal police procedures to verify the identities of their sons and daughters depicted in the recovered material.
While Berry was detained on remand awaiting trial, digital analysts conducted further deep-level extraction of the device hardware. The examination revealed previously hidden photographic material confirming that Berry had directly subjected a child under the age of 13 to contact sexual assault.
The prosecution outlined to the court that Berry systematically targeted the two young victims because of their specific vulnerabilities, deliberately exploiting the fact that they were non-verbal in the calculated belief that they would be physically incapable of reporting the abuse to their families or authorities.
Under UK legislation, all victims of sexual offences are protected by lifelong statutory anonymity.
Berry entered formal guilty pleas to eight criminal counts, comprising four counts of taking indecent photographs of a child, two counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing prohibited images, and one count of sexual assault of a child under 13.
On 3 August 2026, the presiding judge designated Berry a dangerous offender, passing an extended sentence consisting of a five-year-and-four-month immediate custodial term and an extended licence period of eight years.
Because Berry received an extended determinate sentence for a serious sexual offence, he will not be entitled to standard automatic release. He will be required to serve at least two-thirds of his five-year-and-four-month custodial term behind bars before his case can be referred to the Parole Board for consideration, where release will only be granted if he is deemed safe to be managed in the community. Once released, he will remain under active licence supervision for the rest of the sentence and the entire eight-year extension period.
The court also imposed a restraining order alongside a Sexual Harm Prevention Order prohibiting Berry from having unsupervised contact or communication with any child under the age of 16, accompanied by indefinite notification requirements on the Sex Offenders Register.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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