Man jailed for internet sex assault

Children have been warned of the dangers of chat rooms

A man has been jailed for 18 months and put on the sex offenders register for 10 years for having sex with a 15-year-old schoolgirl he met via an internet chat room.

Andrew Hall, 33, contacted the girl via a Virgin website and after "chatting her up" over the internet he met her, took her to his home and had sex with her, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Sentencing Hall, Judge John McNaught told him: "This was a very stupid and wicked thing to do."

This was a very stupid and wicked thing to do

Judge John McNaught

Hall, who admitted one charge of indecent assault and two of abduction between November 17 and 20 last year, lost his job as a school bus driver and his flat in Stroud, Gloucestershire, as a result of his offences.

Police were alerted when the girl's worried parents reported her missing after she left her home in Walsall for a weekend to meet Hall, said William Hart, prosecuting.

As soon as she returned, Hall was arrested. He was freed on police bail until the girl said several days later that they had had sex, after which he was re-arrested and held in custody.

Judge McNaught told Hall, of Llanthony Road, Gloucester, that a probation officer's report on him said that he had met young girls before, although no offences were apparently committed.

'Serious risk'

"The probation officer still regards you as a serious risk," he added.

The judge made an extended sentence order extending the period of supervision for a further two-and-a-half years after Hall's sentence expires.

Robert Duvall, defending, said Hall had not harmed the girl in any way or held her against her will, and said what had happened between them was consensual.

After being arrested he made extremely frank admissions in police interviews and admitted that he knew the girl was under 16.

Mr Duvall said he accepted there were "aggravating" features about the case because of the way Hall had found and attracted his victim.