Predator primary school teacher rapes 12-year-old girl in hotel and takes her to toy store after asking to be her 'sugar daddy'

An elementary school teacher raped a 12-year-old girl in a hotel and then took her to a toy store after she begged to be her “sugar daddy.”

Simon Murch, 55, asked the victim to send him indecent photos when they met online.

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Although the girl told him she was 18, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court learned that he would have known about her age when they met.

Murch picked up the victim near her home and took them to The Tollgate Hotel, where she waited in the car while he booked a room.

The predator then raped the schoolgirl before taking her to a Smyths toy shop where he spent £500.

Murch has now been jailed for seven and a half years, with a further year suspended, after admitting the rape.

The court heard he first started sending messages to the girl online before moving their chats to WhatsApp.

Murch asked her to send indecent images and videos before they met.

Prosecutor Tim Harrington said: “He asked if she wanted him to be her sugar daddy.

'They agreed to meet in Stoke-on-Trent. He booked a room at The Tollgate Hotel. At that time he may not have known her true age.'

The vile abuse came to light when the schoolgirl told a teacher she had a sugar daddy and Murch was arrested.

The teacher must serve two-thirds of the prison sentence before he can be eligible for parole.

In addition to a prison sentence, he was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

Judge Graeme Smith said: “Due to problems in your relationship with your partner, you began communicating with adult women over the internet, exchanging photos and images and meeting some for sex. One of them was this victim.

“You asked if she wanted you to be her sugar daddy. You sent her money and you exchanged pornographic images with her.

“When you met her it would have been obvious that she was significantly under 18. You just carried on.

“As a teacher you should have been alert to the risks. When you met her, it was clear that she was not mature.”