Dangerous pervert who targeted disabled girl (13) online is jailed for two years

Philip Kirk confessed to nine offences committed over two days in June last year, including sexual communication with a child, inciting child sexual activity, breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and possessing indecent images.

The judge said it was clear that “external controls and orders have not worked”.

The court was told Kirk had been deemed as a category three sex offender — the most dangerous level.

The 20-year-old will only be freed if parole officers are satisfied it is safe to do so.

Kirk, from Main Street in Broughshane, Co Antrim will be subject to an extra 30 months supervised licence after being freed.

He appeared at Antrim Crown Court via video-link. His victim’s family sat in the public gallery for sentencing.

The latest offences came to light when authorities conducted checks on his behaviour in June last year. At that time, he was subject to strict conditions on who he could talk to and how he accessed the internet.

An examination of an unauthorised mobile phone “revealed extensive communication” between Kirk and the teenage schoolgirl.

The messages began with the defendant asking for pictures of “her feet, her legs, and pictures of her breasts”.

He also instructed her to perform and record sex acts and send him the video. Indecent images were found on his phone, two of them of the girl in question. Kirk was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Judge Roseanne McCormick KC said that given his victim’s disabilities, “her road to recovery will be all the harder”.

In 2017, a 15-year-old girl accused Kirk of sexually assaulting her. While that was not proceeded with, investigators discovered indecent images.

A further investigation uncovered that Kirk had gained access to a Snapchat group of primary school children. It was later discovered he had accessed it again while undergoing “therapeutic intervention,”.

When Kirk was 17, he was convicted of inciting child sexual activity and having indecent images.