A MAN dubbed an 'unrepentant sex offender' has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after grooming and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy he met online.
David Alexander Murphy, 40, from Derby, drove to Suffolk to meet the boy before taking him to a wooded area and assaulting him.
An investigation found he had used an Irish passport to open a PayPal account and sent money to his victim.
After Murphy was arrested, a search of his house uncovered two Irish passports in different names, a breach of his notification requirements for previous sexual offences.
"Murphy is a dangerous child sexual offender who used social media as a tool in his latest bid to offend — grooming and abusing a young boy," said a spokesperson for the NSPCC.
Two hidden passports
After obtaining intelligence leading to an investigation into Murphy, National Crime Agency (NCA) officers spoke to the boy.
He confirmed that he had met a man called 'Alex' from Derby online in the spring of 2021.
The conversations soon moved to WhatsApp, before Murphy sent intimate photos of himself and asked the boy to do the same.
On June 1 of that year, Murphy drove to Suffolk and met the boy in a village, before taking him to a wooded area where he sexually assaulted him.
The boy gave a description of Murphy and recalled that he had driven in a car with a logo on the side.
Officers were able to prove this had been hired from a car club that Murphy belonged to in Derby.
Murphy had Irish passports in two different names — a breach of his sex offenders register notification requirements (Image: NCA)After NCA investigators arrested Murphy in March this year, a specialist team searched his house.
They found two Irish passports hidden behind a hanging picture, one in the name of Murphy and another in the name of Alex McClean.
He was found to have used the latter passport to open a PayPal account, and further enquiries showed he topped this up from another account.
The NCA investigation showed Murphy had sent money to his victim after meeting him in person.
Investigators also found a bank card in the name of McClean, two sim cards hidden in an Oxo cube box and an Amazon Fire Stick.
Possessing the passport and the bank card in a different name were breaches of his sex offenders register notification requirements.
Having unsupervised contact with the boy, and his failure to notify the police of devices capable of storing data, also breached the sexual harm prevention orders he received for offences committed in 2012 and 2017.
'Premeditated and devious'
At Derby Crown Court in June, Murphy pleaded guilty to 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.
At the same court on Thursday, 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.
"David Murphy took his time to groom a vulnerable child online and even offered money to meet him in person," said NCA Operations Manager Danielle Pownall.
"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."
