January 2023 Cyber-pervert who sent lewd photo to boy in school back in court A pervert who sent a sexualised photo of himself to a boy who was sat in class in school has been hauled back to court Craig Moores was given a suspended prison sentence back in June 2019 for his sexual communications with a 12-year-old boy. The 31-year-old was also slapped with a sexual harm prevention order tasked with limiting his ability to commit further sexual crimes. But he was brought back before Warrington Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, December 20 after breaching this order on two separate occasions. The court heard in 2019 how Moores made contact with the child via Instagram, however the boy ceased contact with him when the content of the messages ‘turned weird’. But the defendant continued to message him, sending him a naked image of himself and a video of a man performing a sex act. The victim told his teacher, who told his mother, who rang Moores to confront him over his actions. A search of his home by police found internet-capable devices which the defendant had not registered, as required by an existing sexual harm prevention order. This was imposed in August 2018 when he was handed another suspended prison sentence after he arranged to meet someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl following online sex chats. He was in fact snared by a paedophile hunter group waiting for him after setting up a sting at McDonald’s in Runcorn. Prosecuting last month before the magistrates’ court, Georgia Leyland explained how Moores again breached his sexual harm prevention order in Warrington on March 7 and August 27, 2022. The former came because he had an additional mobile phone and Xbox which was not registered with the police. The latter was due to him deleting information from his mobile device which prevented officers from reviewing its history, again prohibited by the order. Before sentencing, deputy district judge Andrew Garthwaite said that only a custodial sentence could be justified due to the offences being ‘so serious’. He remarked that Moores has a ‘flagrant disregard for court orders’ and had deliberately breach the order, while he made reference to his previous convictions which are similar in nature. However, taking his guilty pleas into account, the judge concluded that he could suspend the prison sentence. Moores, of Lovely Lane in Whitecross, was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days, as well as pay court costs of £120 and a £156 victim surcharge. June 2019 Cyber creep sent depraved images to schoolboy in class A cyber-creep sent a young boy an obscene photograph of himself while the child was in school despite already having been slapped with a court order for his behaviour. Craig Moores, 27, messaged his 12-year-old victim with the depraved imagery, and a video, while the child was at his school desk. Mandy Nepal, prosecuting, told Chester Crown Court that Moores made contact with the boy via Instagram, told him he lived in Runcorn, and shared his phone number. When the content of the messages began to turn “weird”, the boy ceased contact with Moores. But on January 9, his phone began vibrating to tell him he was receiving messages. He went to the toilets and discovered that they were from Moores, asking if he was gay. The boy tried to ignore him but Moores then sent him a naked image of himself and also a video of a man performing a sex act. The victim told his teacher, who then told his mother. She rang Moores to confront him but he hung up. Police searched the Moores’ bedroom and found an internet-capable phone that Moores had not registered as he was required to under his existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). Moores of Limekiln, Runcorn was given a SHPO last August along with a suspended prison sentence after he arranged to meet someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl following sexual communication online. That in fact turned out to be a paedophile hunter group who were waiting to snare him at McDonald’s on West Lane in Runcorn. Following his arrest this year, he pleaded guilty on April 9 to engaging in sexual communication with a child and breaching a SHPO. Judge Patrick Thompson said the way Moores had behaved must have been “traumatic” for his victim and family and sentenced Moores to a total of two years in prison. He said: “You came to the courts and you were given a chance. You were given a suspended prison sentence. “It was made very clear to you when that SHPO was made, you must not engage in this sort of behaviour and that if you did, there would be consequences.” August 2018 Cyber creep who groomed ’13-year-old girl’ snared by paedophile hunters A pervert from Runcorn wept in the dock as he was spared prison for sexually grooming someone he thought was a ‘13-year-old girl’ online – only to be snared in a paedophile-hunter sting. Craig Moores, 26, made contact with supposed teenager ‘Jessica Logan’ via Facebook on May 2 this year and swiftly steered the conversation in a sexual direction as the exchange switched to text messages and the encrypted social networking service WhatsApp. Prosecutor Simon Parry told Chester Crown Court that Moores started out by asking for her number and for images of “Jessica” and Moores also sent her one of himself. “Jessica”, in reality an adult paedophile hunter working for the Justice 4 Kids group, told Moores she was 13 years old but that ‘didn’t put him off’, and the explicit nature of his requests escalated, including asking for a picture of her performing a sex act and asking if she would have sex with him. He also sent an indecent picture of himself. Moores arranged to meet “Jessica” on May 19 at 11am at McDonald’s on West Lane in Runcorn, but was confronted by members of the group Moores and placed under citizen’s arrest to await the police’s arrival. He told police his ‘head was messed up’ and made admissions. On July 5 he pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child after sexual grooming, trying to engage in sexual communication with a child, and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity. Bearded Moores, of Limekiln Row, Castlefields, sobbed when William Staunton spoke in his defence, describing him as ‘lonely and inadequate’ with learning difficulties and “poor self-esteem”. Judge Roger Dutton said the probation service had advised imposing a community order but he said the offences were ‘too serious’, and instead he sentenced Moores to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, in addition to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, 7pm-6am curfew and 10 years on the sex-offenders register. Moores was also slapped with a 35-day rehabilitation requirement intended to deal with his behaviour, which the judge said ‘needs to be tackled now’, adding that if Moores went to prison, he would be out in six months ‘with nothing being done at all’ to address the specific nature of his offending. Recorder Dutton said: “What you attempted to do was to meet with the ambition of having some sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl. “You know perfectly well that that’s wrong. “You cultivated a friendship on the internet and you arranged what you thought was going to be the ultimate sexual encounter by meeting that young person. “The reality was there never was a young person, you were caught by a paedophile investigation group. “This is a serious matter because of your intentions.” He added: “If it had not been a paedophile investigation group, this would have been a child, there would have been contact and who knows what would have happened?”