Locations
Arbour Close, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9
Description
Richard Murray was previously handed a suspended sentence after being snared by paedophile hunters
A pervert who showed a '14-year-old girl' his naked body was jailed after breaching the terms of the Sex Offenders Register.
Richard Murray, 53, was spared jail in January 2021 after being snared by multiple paedophile hunter groups. Murray thought he had been sending obscene messages to a child and showed his naked body to a 14-year-old girl, who was actually an adult, posing as the girl on Facebook.
At Liverpool Crown Court in January 2021, it was explained that Sharon Robson was posing as a 14-year-old girl called Jade Charles and "engaged in Facebook chats with the defendant". Murray had been charged with three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Murray, learning the 'girl's' age, said: "Well you won't like what I like doing". When sent pictures of "Jade", Murray said she was a "good looking girl" but told her not to look at him as he was "getting into the bath and had a big thing".
Prosecuting barrister Trevor Parry-Jones said that Murray: Told her to be careful on these sites as people do naughty things." When asked what he meant Murray told the 'girl' "s***ing". Murray had also requested photos of the child and "told her he was naked and in the bath".
Murray video-called the 'girl' later that month and the four minute video began with Murray topless before he moved the camera to his naked genitals.
He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and forced to complete 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirements. He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.
After signing the Sex Offenders Register, Murray was forced to register any change of address to police within three days. On Friday (September 2), Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had moved into a home on Mossy Bank Road in Wallasey on November 27, 2021.
On April 30, 2022, Murray told police the property on Mossy Bank Road was his address. The court heard officers then made numerous attempts to visit the property in order to make checks on Murray.
Police attended the home four times across April and May 2022, as well as visiting an address on Bisley Street in Wallasey - where Murray was living when he was sentenced. However, they did not see him on any of those visits.
On one trip, the police saw an estate agent's sign reading "under offer" as they checked the home on Mossy Bank Road. On their visit on May 7, officers were met at the door by a female who said she had bought the property two weeks previously.
Officers found that Murray had moved to an address on Arbour Close in Northwich, Cheshire. The court heard he had signed a tenancy agreement for the property in February 2022.
Murray was arrested and stood trial in Chester Magistrates' Court. Asked why he had not informed the police of the change in circumstance, Murray said he had not actually moved address, but was in the process of doing so. However, he was convicted by magistrates of failing to notify police of his change of address.
Mitigating at Friday's sentencing, defending barrister Mark le Brocq said that Murray, who used to work as a self-employed plumber, was struggling with life in the community after his sentence. Mr le Brocq said Murray "lives in fear, looking over his shoulder all the time".
The barrister added that his client had his "windows smashed" at his home in Wallasey and was now "living in fear" in Northwich, where a "neighbour had been informing people in the locality of the sex offender living next door".
Sentencing, Judge David Potter told Murray: "This was a deliberate failure on your part to notify police" The judge did not believe that Murray would have informed police of his new address in Northwich if they had not found it themselves.
As a result, he said he had no choice but to activate Murray's previously suspended sentence in full. He was jailed for 12 months in total - the six months from the previously suspended sentence and six more for failing to notify police of his address change.