A killer who strangled a teenager to death before dumping her half naked body in a field continues to flout the law – but walked free from court.
James Duggan, now 38, was found guilty of the murder of Rebecca Ryle in Australia in 2006 and was jailed for life.
He met the 19-year-old in a pub in Perth and offered to walk her home, but strangled her in a park and then left her body in the field, reports The Liverpool Echo.
Originally from Liverpool he was deported back to the UK last year after being released.
But Duggan continues to break the law and appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, August 14.
The court heard how Duggan was subject to indefinite notification requirements in January this year after being convicted of breaching a sexual risk order (SRO) and battery.
Shannon Stewart, prosecuting, described how he then failed to inform his offender manager of a relationship he had formed with a woman as he was required to do as part of the order, which the police became aware of after an incident in which he punched her in the stomach.
The killer was released from this 26-week sentence on July 11 and was required to sign the sex offenders’ register within the following three days, but failed to do so.
Duggan was subsequently arrested again on July 17 and told detectives under interview that he had ‘phoned probation but got no reply’.
He has been remanded in custody since.
The defendant received life imprisonment with a minimum term of 11 years in April 2006, having been convicted of Ms Ryle’s murder.
The Western Australian Supreme Court heard during his trial that Duggan, who moved to the country from Merseyside aged 11, had met his 19-year-old victim in a pub in Perth on the evening of May 5, 2004 and offered to walk her home.
But he then strangled her for three minutes in a park just metres away from her home and left her half-naked body in a field, to be found by police officers a few hours later.
He served almost 18 years, was freed in March 2022 and then deported back to the UK.
Ken Heckle, defending, told the court that his client had gone to an address on Round Hey in Stockbridge Village following his latest release, having been instructed to live there by the Probation Service.
He was also ultimately found at this house and detained.
Mr Heckle said: “It is a breach borne out of stupidity.”
Duggan, of School Lane in Rainhill, admitted failing to comply with notification requirement and failing to comply with a suspended sentence order.
He was handed a nine-month imprisonment suspended for two years, 180 hours of unpaid work, a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 30 days, a six-month alcohol abstinence requirement and a 12-month drug rehabilitation requirement as well as being told to complete a relationships programme.
Sentencing, Recorder David Knifton KC said: “I am satisfied, given the acceptance on your part of the seriousness of your offending and your need to address your underlying issues, that this is a case in which I can suspend the sentence of imprisonment I must impose.”
He added: “There is, in your case, a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
