Anthony Moores 35

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Anthony Moores sent disgusting photos of himself to the child and told her he was ‘horny’ – but it was in fact an undercover police officer.

The 33-year-old committed the crime while on police bail for no less than 17 child sex offences, failing to heed warnings after admitting the disgusting offences but before being sentenced.

After seeing his current jail sentence extended, he was told that he was clearly dangerous, and that an extended sentence was needed to safely protect the public.

Moores admitted attempted sexual communications with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity and appeared before Manchester Crown Square Crown Court to be sentenced.

Rachel Shenton, prosecuting, explained how the defendant had previously been sentenced in August 2021 to four years in prison with an extended licence period of a further four years.

This was for 17 offences including causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, making indecent images of a child, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child committed in September 2020-.

 The court heard how he encouraged a ’vulnerable’ 11-year-old girl in residential care to send videos of herself performing sexual acts, while also engaging in sex chats with 12 other girls who he believed to be between the ages of 12 and 15, but were in fact decoys created by members of a paedophile hunter group.

The offences for which he was sentenced for in this latest hearing were committed in January last year – while on bail after being convicted of the former offences, but before being jailed for them.

He was arrested while a prisoner at HM Prison Forest Bank in Salford in November 2021, following analysis of devices seized after police visited his home on Buttermarket Street in Warrington town centre on March 23 earlier that year.

This came after he was caught having sexualised chats via online dating site MeetMe with a profile he believed belonged to Billy, a 13-year-old girl from Ipswich, but which was in fact controlled by an undercover police officer.

The profile he was chatting with had a photo of a 13-year-old girl, and on January 29 last year, the officer received a private message from the defendant’s profile, which was in his own name.

Chat messages included ‘what are you looking for’, to which the officer replied: “Some fun, but I am young.”

Moores told the officer that he was ‘horny’, and when he was told by the ‘girl’ that she was 13, he replied that he was 31.

Messages continued on WhatsApp, where the defendant told the ‘girl’ that she was ‘so cute’ and asked what ‘stuff’ she had done with her last boyfriend. 

 He asked for video chats and whether she would like to see him perform a sex act on himself, before sending a photo of such activity.

The defendant asked for a photo of her breasts, made references about her genitalia, asked if she liked the photos he sent and asked if she wanted to be his girlfriend, as well as a discussion about meeting up.

He asked her to perform sex acts on herself and himself and told her that he loved her before the messages ended on February 14.

When he was interviewed in prison, he answered no comment to most questions.

Michael Johnson, defending, spoke of how Moores’ learning disability ‘contributed to his offending in having a bearing on his conduct’.

He said that his client ‘craves intimacy’, but shields behind social media platforms due to ‘esteem issues’, and he asked for any sentence to run concurrent his current one – meaning no extra time behind bars.

Before sentencing, judge Hilary Manley said: “You engaged in sexual communications with an undercover police officer – she said she was 13 and you did not care.

“There was a significant difference in your age and what you believed her age to be.

“You failed to respond to warnings after already being caught, had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentence, and you did it again.”

“Because you have been convicted of a specific offence, I have to consider dangerousness, and whether you present a significant risk of serious harm by committing other offences – I am satisfied that you do present that risk,” she went on to say. 

 “When I sentenced you in August last year, I took the view that you were dangerous, and this view has only been reinforced by what I now know.”

Moores, whose address in court was simply listed at HMP Altcourse, was jailed for 22 months with an extended licence period of a year.

This will run consecutive to the four-year sentence imposed in August last year, and once he has served two thirds of the total custodial term, the parole board will determine if he can be released and serve the five-year extended licence period.

He must also sign the sex offender register for life and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely.