sick crimes | 

Serial sex offender who attacked boy (11) caught with two hidden Irish passports

Murphy was already on the sex offender’s register for previous offences at the time of the incident

Today at 18:57

A predator who was already a registered sex offender when he travelled who drove 275km across England to sexually assault an 11-year-old boy he groomed online has been jailed for 12 years.

The UK National Crime Agency started an investigation into Irishman David Alexander Murphy (40), with an address in Derby in England, which uncovered how he had sent money to his victim after meeting him.

The investigation revealed that Murphy, who has an Irish passport in his own name, used another Irish passport in the name of ‘Alex McClean’ to open a PayPal account which he topped up from another account.

NCA investigators spoke to the victim who confirmed he met a man calling himself Alex who said he lived in Derby online in early 2021.

Murphy then convinced the boy to move the conversations to WhatsApp and sent naked pictures of himself to the boy and asked the boy to send him the same back.

The twisted paedophile then travelled 275km from Derby to Suffolk on June 1, 2021 to meet the boy before taking to him a wooded area where he sexually assaulted him.

The boy was able to give officers a description of Murphy and recalled that he drove a car with a logo on the side.

The NCA were later able to establish that the car had been hired from a car club that Murphy was a member of in Derby.

They launched the investigation in March this year and a specialist team raided Murphy’s home and found two Irish passports hidden behind a picture on his wall.

One was in the name of Murphy while the other was in the name of McClean.

They also found a bank card in the name of McClean, two sim cards hidden in an Oxo cube box, and an Amazon Fire Stick.

Murphy was already on the sex offender’s register for previous offences at the time of the incident and possessing the passport and bank card in a different name were breaches of his sex offender’s register notification requirements.

A NCA spokesperson said having unsupervised contact with the boy, and his failure to notify the police of the devices capable of storing data, also breached the sexual harm prevention orders he received for offences committed in 2012 and 2017.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court on Friday where he was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment extended by six years for dangerousness.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

He pleaded guilty at the same court in June for inciting a inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity, meeting a boy under 16 following sexual grooming, four counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and three counts of failing to comply with sex offenders register notification requirements.

NCA Operations Manager Danielle Pownall said: “David Murphy took his time to groom a vulnerable child online and even offered money to meet him in person.

“The actions of Murphy, an unrepentant child sex offender, were premeditated and devious.

“I would like to thank the young boy abused by Murphy for his bravery in speaking to us and helping to put a dangerous criminal behind bars.

“The NCA will continue to protect the public, particularly children, from the harm caused by online child sexual abuse.”

A spokesperson for the National Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children described Murphy as a “dangerous child sex offender” who used social media to groom and abuse a young boy.

“The ease with which Murphy was able to use social media to commit these crimes is hugely concerning, and highlights the importance of the Online Safety Bill, which will soon become law. The legislation will require tech firms to design their sites with children’s safety as a priority.

“We hope that the young boy in this case is now receiving all the help and support that he needs.”