A former steward at Southampton Football Club, Aron Marczylo, has been sentenced for possessing a vast collection of indecent images and videos of children. The 30-year-old from Janson Road in Shirley, Southampton, was discovered to have over 6,000 category A indecent images stored on his devices, along with 78 category A movies, 12 category B movies, and seven category C movies. Many of the images and videos featured children as young as four years old, with some showing young victims crying in pain during abuse by adults.
According to details presented at Southampton Crown Court, police from Hampshire Constabulary tracked Marczylo's online activity using a peer-to-peer search system he employed to download the material. On 25 October 2016, officers visited his home address, where he lived with his parents, and seized his computer, laptop, mobile phone, and PC tower unit. The investigation revealed the extent of his collection, including videos where an 11-year-old child was visibly in pain and another where a child was crying during the abuse.
Prosecutor Timothy Akers outlined the findings to the court, stating: “Police seized his computer, laptop, mobile phone and tower unit for his pc. The defendant had 78 category A, 12 category B and seven category C movies. He was also found to have thousands of still images, of which the majority of them were the highest category, on his hard drive...some of the children involved are aged as young as four-years-old.” Akers further noted that in his police interview, Marczylo admitted to watching the videos with his girlfriend and described himself as pansexual with fantasies involving child abuse, though he claimed he had never acted on them in reality.
Mitigating on Marczylo's behalf, Berenice Mulvanny highlighted his personal struggles, including depression, anxiety, and a history of childhood bullying, such as an incident where his hair was set alight. Marczylo had worked as a steward for Southampton Football Club until July 2017, after which he was no longer employed there.
The court imposed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, along with a five-year sexual harm prevention order and registration on the sex offenders' register for 10 years. This case, reported by the Daily Echo and sourced through a partnership with USA Today, underscores the ongoing efforts by Hampshire Constabulary to combat the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.