'Repulsive' men who tattooed 'nonce' three times on vulnerable man's head avoid jail because victim sold his story to The Sun for £100

A ‘vulnerable’ man with learning disabilities had vile slurs tattooed on his head by a drunken trio who recorded the events on camera.

Northampton Crown Court was shown harrowing footage of Edward Murray being tattooed across the front, crown and back of his head by a laughing group who had persuaded him to come to a house where they had been enjoying an evening of drinking and drug-taking.

The court heard how Murray was of low intelligence and had not consented to having the word ‘nonce’ tattooed onto him. Since the events, which took place in September 2020, the court heard how Murray has not been able to afford the £10,000 cost of removing all the inkings – although he has had a large cover-up on his forehead.

But Recorder Shamim Qureshi said that he wouldn’t send the perpetrators to prison because Mr Murray had sold his story to The Sun back in 2020. He said because Mr Murray had sought publicity and had continued his life of petty crime, he hadn’t suffered permanent damage that had a long term effect on his ability to carry out his normal day to day activities.

‘Eddy I’ve a job for you’

In the dock were builder Liam Brooks, 27, of Redmile Walk, Welland, Peterborough; construction firm boss Daniel O'Connor, 36, of Westbrook Park Road, Woodston, Peterborough; and property developer Mark Jordaan, 32, of Eastfields Crescent, Nassington. All have long previous criminal histories.

Prosecuting, John Oliver told the court that Murray had ‘significant’ learning disabilities.

He said: “Mr Murray received a phone call from Brooks saying ‘Eddy I’ve a job for you and I’ll pay you £1,000.

“It was for him to take responsibility for crashing a vehicle which Mr Brooks had abandoned during a police chase.

“He was told a taxi would be ordered for him.

"Mr Murray thinks he was taken advantage of because he sometimes does stupid things.”

‘I am a nonce’

Mr Murray was taken by cab to Nassington, where Jordaan lives, but he refused to go along with the plan to take responsibility for the crashed car. He was handed beer, cannabis and cannabis sweets at Jordaan’s house.

He was then told by Brooks and Jordaan that he needed to cut his long hair, and they did so. Mr Murray then walked to a local convenience store where he was seen on CCTV with the front of his head shaved.

He returned to Jordaan’s home and Mr O’Connor had also arrived there.

Videos were shown to the court of the men laughing as they tattooed the word ‘nonce’ in thick black lettering in the middle of his forehead using a neighbour’s tattoo gun. Underneath the word was a cartoon penis and testicles.

There was also footage of the men tattooing ‘I am a nonce’ on the back of Mr Murray’s head and ‘nonce’ on the back of his neck. He also had a penis and testicles tattooed onto his arm as well as the word ‘Liam’.

Mr Oliver said Murray had been left with permanent injuries.

"There was no agreement to what was going on,” he said.

‘He was crying and sobbing’

Mr Murray said he went to the toilet and saw the state of his head. He said he was then bashed on the back of his head by one of the men but managed to seek refuge with a neighbour who phoned him a taxi.

"His partner said he was crying and sobbing when he got home,” said Mr Oliver.

A victim personal statement was written with the help of Mr Murray’s brother Michael, who attended court. It said: “Since the assault on Eddy he’s been unable to get a job because of the way people judge him.

“He’s been a victim of people shouting nonce at him in the street and people accusing him of being a sex offender. He has to wear a hood and collar so people don’t see.”

Because the case has taken so long to come to court, Mr Murray can no longer claim compensation from the criminal injuries compensation authority.

It will cost between £7,000 and £10,000 to remove the tattoos.

Blackmail accusations

The court was told that O’Connor, who admitted a charge of S20 grievous bodily harm without intent, has 13 previous convictions for 24 offences including ABH.

In mitigation, Jason Stevens said: “My client deeply regrets what’s happened.”

He said the father-of-three was ‘in a bad place’ when the incident happened and suffered from significant mental health problems.

But he added that he ran a construction business with several employees and numerous clients who were relying on him. His disabled mother also lived with him.

Mr Stevens then said that he had personally seen Mr Murray as a defendant recently in court and that he had a ‘significant criminal past’ and so the tattoos had not had an impact at ‘category one harm level’ as they hadn’t stopped him carrying out his normal duties.

He told the judge he believed it to be a category 2 offence, which carried with it a lesser sentence.

Mr Stevens also handed a letter to the judge in which he claimed his client had been blackmailed by the victim. He said that there had been a phone conversation where Mr Murray’s brother had told him that ‘no witnesses would turn up at court’ if they paid £5,000 to him. The incident was reported to police who took no further action.

‘He can still go into his local Sainsbury’s and grab as many steaks as he can’

Taylor Wimpey worker Brooks, who pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm, has 11 convictions for 23 offences.

His advocate Dan Green, said Brooks denied luring Mr Murray to his house and said there was no assault following the tattooing.

He claimed Mr Murray’s life had not been permanently changed.

Mr Green said: “This is a man who can still go into his local Sainsbury’s and grab as many steaks as he can. He’s not finding it difficult to exist in society.

"He gets his benefits, he goes to shops, gets his items. If you search his name and Peterborough (on the internet) you’ll find he comes up time and time again.

“He gave an account to The Sun and got a financial benefit from selling that story to a tabloid newspaper.

"In this victim personal statement he still demanded thousands in compensation. The questions should be where are the thousands he got from The Sun?”

The court was later told that Mr Murray had, in fact, only received £100 for his story.

He said his client denied tattooing his name – Liam – on the defendant’s arm.

There was then a remarkable exchange between the judge and Mr Green, during which Mr Green threatened to go to the court of appeal if the judge did not stop asking his client questions.

Mr Green said that Brooks had largely stayed out of trouble, aside from a common assault last year for which he was still completing a community order.

‘He looks back with shame’

Jordaan has 14 convictions for 29 offences, including multiple battery offences. He pleaded guilty to a charge of encouraging actual bodily harm.

Barnaby Shaw, mitigating, said that his client had been ‘at the height of his cocaine addiction’ when the incident happened but was now a family man with a child. He had also completed a stint as an in-patient in rehab.

He said the Zimbabwean-national was now a successful property developer and had ten people working for him.

"He looks back with shame,” said Mr Shaw.

"It was a drunken night that went way beyond that.

"He recognises he could have stopped it, he should have stopped it.”

In court on Thursday (April 18) Recorder Qureshi said that their actions were ‘repulsive’.

He said: “What’s most surprising is that the person who is the victim would normally be embarrassed by everything that’s happened. It would be a real change in his life.

"Instead, what we see is that the victim sold his story and pictures of his face and published it in a national newspaper.

"In sentencing, the court has to look at the effect on the victim.”

He said that the ‘harm’ caused did not fall into the highest category because it had not caused a long term effect on the victim’s ability to carry out his normal day to day duties.

O’Connor was given a suspended prison sentence of 15 months, suspended for two years. He will also have to carry out 35 rehabilitation requirement days and 200 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay Mr Murray compensation of £2,000.

Brooks was given an 11 month sentence, suspended for two years and will have to complete 40 sessions of an accredited offender programme, 50 rehabilitation requirement days, 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,000 in compensation.

Jordaan was given a seven-and-a-half month jail term suspended for two years, 40 sessions of an accredited offender programme, 25 rehabilitation requirement days and 120 hours of unpaid work. He will also have to pay £1,000 in compensation. His outstanding sentence from last year, of which 140 hours of unpaid work is outstanding, was revoked.