A man who recruited a 12-year-old girl at a railway station has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for grooming her.
Michael Lawrence, aged 38 from Hinckley, Leicestershire, befriended the girl at Kettering Station in the summer of 2022 and then maintained contact through over 1,200 messages, British Transport Police (BTP) reported.
Over the course of two years, his communications increasingly included sexual content, with Lawrence asking her to keep their meetings a secret and warning her not to tell her father.
At Leicester Crown Court on Friday, Lawrence pleaded guilty to two charges of inciting a minor under 13 to engage in sexual activities.
BTP investigators described how Lawrence gradually gained the girl’s trust, sending thousands of social media messages and voice recordings over the two-year span.
His messages increasingly focused on sexual topics, and he admitted to having a 'crush' on her while persistently trying to establish sexual contact.
In one message he said: "Sorry if I'm being flirty with you, I'm naughty." In one 30-day period alone, he sent 223 messages, including one conversation where he warned her to be careful with what she tells her dad about him.
The barrage of messages only came to light following a separate police investigation.
When officers went to his house to arrest him, he asked them: "Do you think I'm dangerous?".
Det Con Alex Price said: "The disgusting motive for Lawrence's behaviour is obvious from the sheer number of messages he sent to her and his deliberate, escalating behaviour over two years, yet he's never shown any remorse for his actions nor the lifelong impact they will have had on the young girl." Alongside his custodial sentence, Lawrence was given two years on extended licence, ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely, and was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Court Outcome
Conviction and Sentencing Details
Sentenced
Detected legal outcome
A man who recruited a 12-year-old girl at a railway station has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for grooming her. Michael Lawrence, aged 38 from Hinckley, Leicestershire, befriended the girl at Kettering Station in the summ...
Prison sentence
five years
A man who recruited a 12-year-old girl at a railway station has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for grooming her
Sex Offenders Register
indefinitely
Det Con Alex Price said: "The disgusting motive for Lawrence's behaviour is obvious from the sheer number of messages he sent to her and his deliberate, escalating behaviour over two years, yet he's never shown any remorse for his actions nor the lifelong impact they will have had on the young girl." Alongside his custodial sentence, Lawrence was given two years on extended licence, ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely, and was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO)
Court order
two years
Det Con Alex Price said: "The disgusting motive for Lawrence's behaviour is obvious from the sheer number of messages he sent to her and his deliberate, escalating behaviour over two years, yet he's never shown any remorse for his actions nor the lifelong impact they will have had on the young girl." Alongside his custodial sentence, Lawrence was given two years on extended licence, ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely, and was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO)
