AN eminent child psychiatrist is facing a lengthy jail sentence after having sex with a 14-year-old Gwynedd schoolgirl.
Dr Julian Morrell, 42, posed as a 15-year-old to befriend the girl on a web chatroom called "Pre-Teen".
The former consultant psychiatrist, previously considered one of the UK's top experts in child sleep disorders, exchanged e-mails and text messages with the youngster for a month.
He then drove from his London home to a Snowdonia campsite in August and had sex with her in his tent.
The married father-of-two told the vulnerable teenager he was "actually 32" before taking her virginity.
He then camped in the area for a further two days.
The following month, Morrell made the 300-mile drive to North Wales for a secret meeting - this time having sex and driving back to London immediately after.
The girl's parents discovered what was happening when she went missing and a friend told them about Morrell. They immediately called police.
Officers from North Wales eventually tracked down Morrell in Dorset, where he was re-training as a plumber.
He was struck off by the General Medical Council months earlier for looking at child pornography on the internet.
Morrell pleaded guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court to grooming a child and two counts of sexual activity with the child.
Sentencing was adjourned to early next year while police investigate other matters.
Detective Constable Gwyn Williams, who led the investigation, said outside court: "Morrell's actions were the actions of a predatory paedophile.
"This is a classic example of grooming.
"He went on that internet chat-room with the intention of finding a victim or a partner."
Morrell started using the Pre-Teen website, a legitimate chat-room for youngsters, in July this year.
He used a foreign e-mail address and a false identity as a 15-year-old schoolboy.
The girl, who was apparently smitten with the former doctor, is now trying to patch her life together with her family.
A police source said she was "not a streetwise teenager" and had been left "very distressed and upset".
Morrell, of Hillcrest Road, Ealing, west London, formerly worked as a senior registrar and clinical lecturer in child and adolescent psychiatry at Park Hospital for children in Headington, Oxford.
He also worked at a children's clinic in Reading for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust and within the psychology department at the University of Reading.
Morrell specialised in children's sleep problems and he was considered the outstanding expert in his field. His research was published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Morrell's appetite for child sex had already cost him his career.
In April, he was struck off by the General Medical Council for looking at child pornography on the internet.
He had been caught looking at similar sites before, but was only suspended by the GMC.
