A 29-year old man who asked two teenage girls to send him naked pictures via the Snapchat app has been sentenced for five sexual offences.
Judge Geoffrey Miller KC imposed an enhanced combination order consisting of three years probation and 100 hours community service upon John Ronald Murphy.
From Glen Road in Downpatrick, Co Down, Murphy was told the sentence was a "direct alternative to immediate custody" and was warned by the judge on Monday that any breach of the Order would result in a jail term.
Murphy's offending spanned over a seven-month period from July 2021 to February 2022 and involved two girls who at the time were aged between 14 and 15.
Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, heard that in April 2022 one of the girls contacted the PSNI to make complaints about Murphy's behaviour.
She told police Murphy started messaging her via Snapchat in July 2021. She said he knew she was 14 and that in some messages he said he was desperate for sex and asked her to show him her body.
The teenager didn't reply to these messages and in August 2021 he sent images and videos of his penis.
She blocked him on social media and when she contacted police, she handed over the images and videos sent to her by Murphy.
Murphy was in contact with a second teenager around the same time who was also 14.
When she made a complaint to police in July 2022, the schoolgirl said Murphy began messaging her on Snapchat the summer before.
She said that whilst the messages were initially general in nature, after around a month he asked her to send pictures of herself without clothes on to him.
She refused his request which prompted Murphy to send naked pictures of himself to her with a message that said '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.
He claimed the only communication he had with each girl was when they asked him to buy alcohol. He also denied sending sexual messages which Judge Miller branded as a "tissue of lies."
When his mobile phone was examined, there was evidence found on the device which proved he had been in contact with both girls.
Murphy was interviewed again in August 2022 when he denied both requesting indecent images from the girls or any other sexual communication and suggested someone else may have used his phone.
He later admitted five offences against his two victims - namely two counts of sexual communication with child, two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of an adult causing a child to watch a sexual act.
Judge Miller noted that neither of the girls responded to his requests and there was "no physical contact of a sexual nature between he and them."
Regarding the two girls, the judge said that after reading statements made by them it was clear "both of them have been impacted by the nature of the actual offences and the also by the entire court process.
"Each speaks of becoming more distant, of changes in mood and behaviour, and losing concentration at school."
Judge Miller said he had considered defence reports on Murphy which set out his work history and a lack of issues related to drink or drugs.
It also emerged in a Probation Report that whilst Murphy has accepted his guilt, he has minimised his actions and has displayed a lack of awareness of the impact his behaviour has had on his two young victims.