SIMON FRANCE JAILED IN STOCKPORT FOR SOLICITING UNDERAGE GIRL VIA FACEBOX

In September 2007, Simon France, a 38-year-old convicted sex offender from Arnold near Nottingham, was sentenced to three years in prison for grooming and engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl he met on the social networking site Facebox, now known as Netlog.

Despite being under police monitoring and participating in a specialized probation program intended to aid his rehabilitation, France secretly accessed Facebox between meetings of a sex offenders group to seek out teenage girls.

He initially connected with the 15-year-old on Facebox, where both claimed to be of appropriate ages. France, who falsely presented himself as a pornographic filmmaker, convinced the girl to meet him in his car and at two Travelodge hotels in the Stockport area, where sexual encounters took place, a court heard.

The police investigation was triggered when the girl’s best friend discovered the relationship and reported France to a child protection agency. The girl, unaware of France’s status on the sex offenders register, later expressed her distress, stating, “Now that I know the full picture about Simon it sickens me. I have seen this sort of thing on the TV before. I feel very numb and have not been able to let out my emotions yet. I may seek counselling.”

France’s criminal history included a 2004 conviction for distributing indecent images of children to his then-57-year-old uncle, Kenneth France. Following that conviction, both men were ordered to report regularly to probation officers and participate in a community sex offender group program.

By January of the same year, France had resumed contact with underage girls aged 14 to 16 through the internet, as prosecutors revealed. During his trial at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Rachel Shenton stated, “The defendant was a regular user of the internet site Facebox. The complainant had her correct age on her page and the defendant had his correct age too – but he claimed to be a pornographic filmmaker. They began contact which soon moved onto MSN. They had discussions about sexual intercourse even before they met. They met on several occasions and engaged in sexual activity. When arrested, he accepted that he had met the girl in the car and at the Travel Lodges. As a result, checks were made on the defendant’s computer.”

During mitigation, lawyer Austin Welch argued that “The matter was consensual and initiated by both parties – the complainant was 15-and-a-half at the time. There was no evidence of manipulation and pressure from France.” However, Judge Jonathan Geake emphasized that France knowingly engaged in an inappropriate relationship, stating, “You knew very well what her age was. You knew it was not an appropriate relationship.”