A pair of paedophile pals were rumbled by one of their girlfriends after she discovered a horrifying log of their sickening chats.
John Murphy shared his vile stash of material over WhatsApp with other depraved individuals, including pervert bus driver David Owens. They were exposed after the latter's long-term partner became suspicious and checked his phone, revealing to her shock that they had secretly been discussing their desire to sexually abuse children.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Monday, that his partner of seven-and-a-half years noticed that he had "become distant" towards the end of 2020. On December 4 of that year, she "took the opportunity to look at his mobile phone" as she suspected Owens was having an affair.
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Chris Stables, prosecuting, said she instead saw a number of texts exchanged with a contact listed as 'AA John Smith' - a pseudonym for Murphy. She was left "very disturbed by what she read" and called the police.
Owens was arrested the same day, with the device being seized. As a result, Murphy's home on Durban Road in Old Swan was raided the following day and the 68-year-old said upon his arrest: "I only speak to people who want to get involved in that sort of thing."
An analysis of his device revealed four category A indecent images of children - pictures showing the most serious forms of abuse - as well as four in category B and 22 in category C. Meanwhile, he had distributed two photographs and two pictures graded as category A in addition to four category B images and three of category C.
Murphy, who appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse, has no previous convictions. Paul Lewis, defending, told the court there had been a "relatively small number of images distributed".
He added: "Here is a gentleman that still has an awful lot of work to do to address his offending behaviour. A relatively short custodial sentence without the support he is going to require is going to leave some long-standing issues."
Murphy admitted three counts of distributing indecent images, possession of indecent images and three charges of making indecent images. He was jailed for 25 months, told to pay a victim surcharge and handed a sexual harm prevention order and a notification requirement - both lasting 10 years.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC commented that the messages between two "included the expressed desire to commit very series sexual offences against young children". He added: "That background does give the court an idea of your motivation when possessing and distributing the images found on your phone.
"You had exchanged this sort of material with others who willingly associated in this appalling trade. You have shown little insight into the nature of your offending - you minimise your behaviour and deny any sexual gratification from your possession of this type of material, but I reject that completely."
Owens, of Circular Road East in Norris Green, was handed a 12-month imprisonment suspended for two years in December last year after being caught by police with images "as unpleasant as you can imagine". The then 59-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornographic images.
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