Downpatrick: Man asked girls for naked pictures on Snapchat

A 29-year old man who asked two teenage girls to send him pictures of themselves naked via Snapchat has been placed on the sex offenders' register.

John Ronald Murphy of Glen Road, Downpatrick, admitted offences involving two girls, aged between 14 and 15 at the time.

They spanned seven months, from July 2021 to February the following year.

A judge said Murphy had initially told a "tissue of lies"when he was arrested and had denied sending sexual messages.

Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, heard that in April 2022 one of the girls contacted police to make a complaint about Murphy's behaviour.

She told officers that Murphy started messaging her via Snapchat in July the previous year.

Girls had 'lost concentration at school'

She said he knew she was 14. In some messages, he said he was desperate for sex and asked her to show him an image of herself naked.

She did not respond. But in August 2021, he sent her images and videos of his penis.

She blocked him on social media and later gave images and videos sent to her by Murphy to the PSNI.

The court heard that at around the same time, Murphy was in contact with another teenager, who was also aged 14 when the communication started.

The girl told officers that Murphy began messaging her on Snapchat in the summer of 2021. And while the messages were general at the outset, within around a month he asked her to send him pictures of herself naked. She refused.

Murphy then sent her pictures of himself naked, with a message reading, 'Now that I have done it, you should too'.

When he was arrested on April 18, 2022, Murphy accepted he had messaged both girls via Snapchat - but denied that the messages were sexual.

He told officers the only communication he had with the girls was when they asked him to buy alcohol.

Evidence later recovered from his mobile phone indicated that he had been in contact with both girls.

During a police interview four months later, he suggested that someone else may have used his phone - again denying that he had asked for indecent images or had any other sexual communication.

Murphy later admitted five offences against both girls - two counts of sexual communication with a child, two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and a final count of an adult causing a child to watch a sexual act.

Judge Geoffrey Miller KC told the court that neither girl responded to his requests, and that there was "no physical contact of a sexual nature between he and them".

But after reading their statements, he said it was clear both girls had been "impacted by the nature of the actual offences and… by the entire court process".

"Each speaks of becoming more distant, of changes in mood and behaviour, and losing concentration at school," he said.

Community service

The court was told that while Murphy accepted his guilt, he had minimised his actions and displayed a lack of awareness of the impact his behaviour had.

Judge Miller imposed three years probation and 100 hours community service, warning Murphy that any breach of the order would result in a jail term.

He imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and placed him on the sex offenders register, for a period of five years in both instances.