Paedophile's final insult to the victims whose lives he ruined

A manipulative paedophile who sexually abused two young girls took his own life before being sentenced for his crimes. Philip Moore, 59, lured one girl in with promises of a fashion photo shoot, during which he sexually assaulted her and took "provocative" pictures.

He was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual activity with a child, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court in August and September. But when one of his victim's attended his sentencing on September 30, she was informed that her abuser had taken his own life - and that "when the man dies, the case dies with him".

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The woman, now in her 30s, was just 12-years-old when she was groomed by Moore, who would take her shopping to the Trafford Centre and buy her makeup and clothes. She said: "I was a girly girl and loved Sugar magazine. There was a page in the magazine where it said you could send in your picture to appear in the magazine. He said he had a camera at his place of work. That's when it started.

"He took me to his work and that was where he touched me. He touched my breasts. I'd brought a few outfits for the photographs, and every time I changed into a new outfit he asked me if I wanted him to stay in the room. He took quite provocative photographs of me."

Moore continued to sexually abuse the girl over a period of several years, molesting her "three or four times a week". When she was 16-years-old, she reached out to someone about the abuse but said nothing was done. It was not until October 2022, when she found out another girl had also been abused, that she decided to make a police report. Moore was found guilty of two counts of sexual abuse and inciting to engage in sexual activity in relation to her.

She said: "I suppressed my emotions a lot because I never talked about it. It affected my relationships with people, not just with men but in general. I don't trust people and I always fear that people are out to harm me, whether its physically or emotionally. I always see the negative. I keep my social circle small and sometimes, because I suppress my emotions, when things get difficult I lash out.

"When I found out there was somebody else, it just destroyed me. I was in a bad mental state for a long time, to the point I wanted to kill myself. It just triggered me to do something about it, because I thought I don't want it to happen to anyone else, and I didn't want to live like that any more."

Moore, a former lorry driver from Newton-Le-Willows, denied the offences, which led to the long, agonising process of preparing for trial.

His victim said: "Every day you're waiting it feels like a lifetime. It felt like I was serving a life sentence. The prosecutor was very compassionate towards me, but overall the process of chasing and chasing for updates, you feel like you're just a number. I didn't feel like I was in control of anything."

When Moore was found guilty of five charges, she said: "I felt like my voice had been heard. I felt happy that something was finally being done for me." But "everything got flipped upside down" just three days before Moore was due to be sentenced, as he took his own life on September 27.

His victim said: "I feel like I've been cheated. I feel like there's more to it. I think there are other victims out there. I think he took the coward's way out.

"And when I went to court on the Monday, to find out he would have only served three years anyway - it felt like a kick in the stomach, because I've had years of suffering from what he did. It felt like a blow he killed himself, a blow when I got to court and they said he was dead, a blow that they said when the man dies, the case dies with him."

She said she received cruel text messages blaming her for her abuser's death, and was hit with further anguish when she saw pictures of his old workmates decorating their HGVs with black ribbons in his honour. She said: "I feel like what has happened undermines any victim, whether they're a child going through abuse or an adult who decides to come forward later."

She said she had been left with feelings of confusion and guilt as she recalled how she once "adored" Moore and "looked up to him". She said: "He was very manipulative, very coercive, always nice. I think that's what clouded people's judgement of him. He was very image driven, but it was all a façade. He was a paedophile and a bad man.

"I still suffer from complex emotions. Some days I feel guilty. Some days I wish I had never said anything and he'd be still living his life. Other days I hate him because he's ruined my life."

She added: "Sugar magazine used to teach young girls about drugs, STDs and things like that. They used to teach you about chatrooms and grooming, and I thought I understood it. Little did I know it was happening to me. My life was a lie. I missed out on so much. It has shaken me to my core, so much so that I don't know who I'm supposed to be.

"When you're a child going through sexual abuse, it makes you feel down, it makes you feel worthless. But as you grow into an adult you suffer from confusion. Had that not happened to me, I don't know who I would be. It has changed who I should be. But I don't know who that person is."