An Inverness paedophile has had his jail sentence almost doubled after lawmakers overruled a judge’s view that his schoolgirl victim “enjoyed” the sexual experiences with him.
Lee Murray, 53, abused his role as a football coach to text a girl when she was 12 or 13 in 2019 – and then raped her when she was 15.
Lord Sandison jailed Murray for five years last September after a jury found him guilty of rape and three other sexual crimes.
But, in a rare move, the Crown appealed the length of the sentence, taking issue with the judge’s view that Murray’s victim “enjoyed” the sexual encounters with him.
‘This does not reflect what she said’
Three appeal judges considered the issue at the Appeals Court in Edinburgh and have now ruled that, in their view, Lord Sandison’s judgement was incorrect.
At the heart of the issue is how Lord Sandison concluded the victim “participated willingly and enthusiastically in [the sexual conduct] and had enjoyed it”.
The appeal judges decided Lord Sandison reached that view after reading a series of text messages between Murray and the victim.
But the girl sent those texts as a result of Murray’s grooming and she had given no evidence to the court to say she “enjoyed” the activities with Murray.
She had, in fact, given the court a statement outlining the negative impact Murray’s abuse had on her life.
In new court papers, the Lord Justice Clerk Lady Dorrian said: “By their verdict, the jury plainly accepted that consent had not been freely given (by the victim).
“Nevertheless, the judge…describes the victim as having ‘participated willingly and enthusiastically’ in the sexual conduct and had enjoyed it.
“This does not, it seems, reflect anything that was actually said by her in any part of her evidence.
“Instead, it reflects a conclusion drawn by the judge from the sexualised, and apparently encouraging, nature of certain messages sent by the victim in response to messages from Murray.”
The appeal judges also disagreed with two other parts of Lord Sandison’s original judgement.
The first was that Lord Sandison’s claim that Murray had not shown a pattern of grooming behaviour and the second was Lord Sandison’s claim that Murray wasn’t only attracted to children.
Lord Sandison said he “formed the impression” that Murray saw older female children as “a more receptive audience to his advances” than mature women “rather than because of any particular and specific sexual interest in children.”
Murray asked abuse prevention expert ‘what tricks’ abusers use
Lady Dorrian added: “The judge failed to recognise the pattern of grooming behaviour blatantly apparent from the evidence.
“The judge’s conclusion that Murray should not be seen as someone with a particular and specific sexual interest in children is insupportable on the evidence.
“He had been convicted of sex offences against two, completely unrelated, older children – one of whom he began grooming from the age of 12 or 13.”
The papers also state that Murray was the football club’s chief welfare offer and had proactively contacted several child abuse prevention advisors to ask “how children fall for it” and “what sort of tricks” abusers use.
Murray’s defence lawyers did not offer any evidence to contest the Crown’s appeal.
‘Sentence was unduly lenient’
Concluding, Lady Dorrian said: “Had the judge taken appropriate account of all the factors which he should have, he ought to have imposed a significantly higher sentence.
“The sentence does not recognise the serious nature of the offending.
“It does not reflect the presence of significant degrees of manipulation and grooming.
“It was unduly lenient and a different sentence should have been passed.”
Lady Dorrian increased Murray’s sentence from five years to nine years with three ‘extension’ years.
Murray will serve those three extension years with a mix of prison and time of supervision in the community.
The trial at the High Court in Inverness heard how Murray – the head coach at Thistle Girls FC – took the teenage girl to locations in and around Inverness for sex in his car.
In one text to the girl, Murray wrote: “My wee girl you are so cute I can’t f***ing wait to see you babe.”
Snared by paedophile hunters
Cyber crimes investigators also recovered a number of photographs that Murray appeared to have sent.
They included one that showed Murray in a state of arousal and another where he was topless with his tongue out
The jury also heard from a paedophile hunting group who snared Murray while posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Murray, then 51, contacted a decoy profile on an app called Wink – and he believed he was talking to a 14-year-old named Scarlet.
In just three months in 2022, Murray and ‘Scarlet’ exchanged 6,000 messages.
Court papers said: “The messages progressed from reasonably platonic, to flirtatious, then sexually explicit.
“Murray began to ask “Scarlet” increasingly sexualised questions and to increase the sexual content of the messages.”
In one message, he wrote: “This is sex and if we get caught, I go to jail as you are 14.”
‘I told myself I shouldn’t be doing it’
The woman passed her dossier on to the head of her organisation and a “sting” was then arranged with the group in Glasgow.
They confronted Murray in the street before passing their evidence to police.
During the video – which was played for the jury – Murray told the volunteers: “I told myself I shouldn’t be doing it” and called his actions “disgusting”.
After the original sentencing hearing, Detective Inspector Craig Thomson said: “Lee Murray was in a position of trust in the community when he targeted his young victim and subjected her to horrific sexual abuse.
“I hope this outcome sends a clear message to perpetrators who prey on and abuse children that we will thoroughly investigate all reports and ensure you face justice.”
Lady Dorrian’s report included a statement from the victim on how Murray’s actions had affected her.
Victim ‘determined to move forward’
It read: “This crime has had a significant impact on my health and wellbeing.
“My schoolwork has been badly affected by this with periods where I have been really struggling to cope emotionally.
“This has resulted in low levels of concentration, inability to sleep, low mood, and anger.
“My recovery may take some time but I am determined to move forward with support from my family and friends.”