Gardaí monitor serial rapist on holiday in Cork

Gardaí are closely monitoring the movements of a serial rapist from England who is on holidays in West Cork.

Robert James Murray, 62, who lives near Bristol, arrived at Cork Airport from Bristol Airport on Thursday with a female companion and a teenage boy.

Murray, a registered sex offender who has four convictions for violent rape and other sex crimes, some carried out at knifepoint, was quizzed by undercover gardaí about his travel plans before he and his party left for a holiday home in Kinsale.

They spent Friday morning touring the area before spending the afternoon wandering the streets of Kinsale.

British police, who constantly monitor Murray’s activity, notified gardaí that he was travelling to Cork for a short-term break.

Gardaí are aware of his presence in the area and are monitoring his activities.

Murray was arrested and charged with the rape and abduction of a woman in Zimbabwe in 1970 but got off on a technicality.

He moved to Britain and was jailed there for five years in 1977 for rape and abduction.

A month after his release he attacked again and was jailed in 1982 for seven years.

He was jailed again in 1996 for three years for indecent assault, and was sent back to prison again for nine years in 2002 for indecent assault and attempted buggery.

He was released under licence in 2010.

Murray has told police that he is a changed man but detectives who know him say it appears as if he is compelled to attack women, and that he is one of the most sadistic criminals they have encountered.