Paedophile tried to go on the run with deputy head girlfriend and £10k - now the money has been confiscated

A paedophile planned to go on the run with £10,000 after being caught with child sex abuse photos.

David Morris, 52, was caught trying to abscond with girlfriend Julie Morris the day after police raided his home. When officers tracked down the couple, they found them with a huge sum of cash and a campervan packed with their belongings.

Morris was sentenced to 16 years in prison in December for raping and sexually assaulting a young girl along with Julie Morris, who worked as a deputy headteacher at St George's Central Primary School in Tyldesley, near Wigan, where she was the "safeguarding lead". Liverpool Crown Court heard in December that none of the offences committed by the pair were related to Julie Morris' job.

READ MORE: Idiot driver, 25, calls judge an 'absolute helmet' for jailing him - and now could be in even more trouble

At the same court on Monday (June 6), David Morris was made the subject of a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act in relation to the £10,000 he was found in possession of when trying to abscond. It means he will never get the money back, the Liverpool ECHO reports.

The cash was seized by police at the time of his arrest and will now be split between Merseyside Police and the Home Office to be reinvested in policing.

Police raided Morris' home on Sandfield Road in Eccleston, St Helens, on September 2 last year after he was caught sending indecent photos to another paedophile online and seized his phone, computer and other digital equipment. He was arrested on suspicion of possession and distribution of indecent images of children, questioned by police and bailed with conditions.

The following day, Friday September 3, police received information about Morris and his partner