‘I felt physically sick’: Woman duped by paedophile who changed his name to hide his past calls for end of legal loophole
Julie Purvin, 54, told LBC's Shelagh Fogarty she was 'charmed' by the 'master manipulator' - as calls grow for the Government to take action.
A woman who unknowingly dated a convicted paedophile who had changed his name multiple times to hide his criminal past has told LBC she “felt physically sick” after being duped by the serial sex offender.
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It comes as the Government is looking at closing a legal loophole that allows these criminals to hide their pasts.
A spotlight was shone on the issue after it emerged convicted sex offender Jason Brown changed his name to conceal his criminal past and start new relationships.
Speaking to LBC, Julie Purvin, 54, said she was 'charmed' when she first met the former fireman on a night out in Stratford-Upon-Avon at a bar in 2025 and had no reason to suspect he had a criminal history.
"He was good looking, charming, he basically wooed me quite quickly”.
Little did she know, the former firefighter had reinvented himself after multiple convictions, and may have used as many as 20 different aliases.
Explaining how she was duped by the convicted paedophile, Ms Purvin told LBC’s Shelagh Fogarty: “It all sounded very legitimate and plausible. And literally from day one, [he] just love-bombed me."
“I was only seeing him for three and a half months. But he was so full-on and so charming. 'd been on my own, and all of a sudden this guy comes into my life, makes me feel amazing.”
But soon, his web of lies began to unfurl.
“We'd gone to London for the day, and he'd had a phone call, which I now found out was actually from his barrister, to say that he was called to court for conviction.
“But he'd basically fed me a line saying it was more about he'd been wrongly accused of an assault. “He didn't say what kind of assault, he didn't go into any detail with me.
"And because he was so charming, I just thought ‘I can't believe that would happen to him, because he just didn't come across as the type of person that would ever do anything bad to anybody.”
It was not until she explained the whole story to her friend when she learned that “that just sort of thing doesn't happen.. they don't just move a court case from one area to another”.
She added that it continued to bother her friend who "literally woke up 2 o'clock in the morning” and felt like she needed to follow it up.
The friend then went on to the Lincoln Court site and she found a name on there that said Jason Coe on a rape charge.
“So she then put it into Google and straight away it came up that he'd been convicted of offences to sexually abusing girls under the age of 16, and he'd been in prison for five and a half years for that. He was using a different name then as well. This is the third or fourth time his name had changed.
“I was terrified.. He didn't want me to mention it to anybody else, not to get upset, and that when he'd come out the court, he would have a conversation and explain it to me.
“And I just said, there is nothing to explain. Clearly you're not who you say you are, you're a completely different person. I just wanted him out of my life from that moment onwards.”
“I just remember feeling physically sick, just repulsed… I literally got rid of all of his stuff. I got in touch with the police straight away.”
The police told her Brown is ”a master manipulator. He knows exactly what he's doing and he's done this once and he'll do it again.
“I felt such an idiot because of that,” Ms Purvin said.
Jason Brown, who was previously called Barry Coe, was reportedly first prosecuted 12 years ago and has convictions for sexual acts against children.
The 50-year-old of Peterborough appeared at Lincoln Crown Court last week accused of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, court documents show.
On Monday, Downing Street promised the Government would be “looking at” the issue of offenders changing their names.
A Number 10 spokeswoman said: “Registered sex offenders are required to notify the police of any change of name. Failing to do so is a crime, and anyone who commits this crime should be expected to face the full force of the law.“If we need to strengthen the rule around this, we will, and it is something we are looking at.”
Registered sex offenders are already required to tell the police about any change of name, but the onus is on them to do so.
Campaigners have called for sex offenders to be banned from changing their name by deed poll.
Ms Purvin said: “It's a real shame because women aren't being protected. They're literally being left vulnerable.”
She added: “If you've committed that kind of offence in the first place, then that is— that should sit with you because you've damaged somebody else. You've damaged a, a person, a child, or you've, you've basically— whether it's whatever, sexual assault, whatever— that sits with you. That's— that you have to live with.”