PREDATOR JAILED FOR GROOMING VULNERABLE CHILD INTO SEXUAL ACTIVITY
A PREDATOR has been locked up after grooming and manipulating a vulnerable child into engaging in sexual activity.The teenager came to feel like she was ‘in love’ with Jason Jones, and she now says that what happened to her has ‘taken years of her childhood away from her’.
After matters were reported to Cheshire Police, the 31-year-old was charged with and admitted five counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, and he was brought to justice at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.
Tom McLouglin, prosecuting, told the court that the offences involved sexual activity the defendant had with a teenage girl in Warrington, when he was in his 20s.
Jones began to message the victim online, telling her in chats that she ‘needed him’.
When they would meet up, sexual activity began in the form of ‘cuddling and tickling’, before progressing to kissing and more intimate behaviour.
Further sexual activity occurred in his car and a Warrington park, with the court hearing that she ‘could not recall how many times they had sex’.
However, it was said to be a ‘large number of times’.
It was said that Jones made comments to her about her wearing her school uniform when they met up, but she refused.
When what happened was reported to the police, the victim told officers that she thought that she was in love with the defendant, and that it would ‘ruin his life’ if she reported him.
Jones also told her that it would ruin his life if she told anyone else what was happening.
When she was older, and when she realised what had happened to her, the victim confronted the defendant, with him telling her that he wanted to end his own life.
He was arrested by police and answered ‘no comment’ to questions put to him by officers.
An impact statement prepared by the victim was read out in court, in which she said: “What happened has altered my life forever.
‘Years of my childhood were taken away from me, and he has stripped any sense of life away from me.
‘He manipulated me into thinking what was happening was normal.
He manipulated me into thinking that I was in love with him.
He made me believe it was love, and he has hurt me in ways I cannot explain.
I feel like my body is no longer my own.
I trusted him with my whole heart.
I cannot forget him or what he did to me, and I cannot get the horrible images out of my head, and that will haunt me for the rest of my life.” Mr McLouglin said that Jones displayed grooming behaviour and abused the victim’s trust when he targeted the vulnerable child.
He also said that the case was aggravated by the disparity in age between him and the victim, and the fact that he encouraged her not to report matters.
In mitigation, Jeremy Rawson, defending, said that his client, who has no previous convictions and has not offended since, should be afforded credit for his guilty pleas.
It was also said that he has shown remorse through his pleas, that he has always been in employment, and that he is from a supportive family that does not condone what he has done.
Before sentencing, judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: “What this offending amounts to is the gradual grooming of what was a very young girl, taking advantage of her youth and immaturity.
She was vulnerable, and you persisted in committing a large number of serious sexual acts in relation to her over an extended period.
She came to believe that she was in love with you, and she did not report it as she said it would ruin your life.
She was right of course, but that kept her on board.
Although you do express remorse, you minimised your motivations involved, and in your pre-sentence report, you described what you did as honourable.” Jones, of Prescot Road in St Helens, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
He must serve at least two-thirds of this sentence before he is eligible for the Parole Board to consider if he is safe to be released on licence.
The defendant must also sign the sex offender register for life and abide by the terms of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
In addition, a restraining order was imposed in relation to the victim for the next 10 years.
