Man jailed under new grooming law

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/5368310.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A father-of-three who groomed teenage girls on the internet has been jailed for three years under new legislation.

Ralph Wassell, 57, from Stirling, admitted driving 90 miles to Eyemouth to meet a 14-year-old outside school gates after pretending he was aged 20.

Jedburgh Sherriff Court heard how he also broke a bail condition not to contact children under 16 through text messages or the internet.

Sheriff Kevin Drummond said the case was the first under a new grooming law.

The Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 was designed to specifically tackle grooming offences.

The court heard how the retired IT consultant had pretended he was a man called Rod when he met the two schoolgirls in a chat room.

The behaviour of the accused has highlighted the kind of dangers that children are exposed to by new technology Sheriff Kevin Drummond

The following day he drove to Eyemouth to meet the girls.

But when he pulled up at their school gates in his BMW one of them panicked.

When the girls went for lunch at a petrol station Wassell parked nearby and when confronted by one of the girls he said he had gone there for "a snog".

The girl rejected his advances and after she said goodbye he told her he loved her.

The police were contacted after one of the girl's friends reported him to a teacher at their school.

'Sexual intentions'

Wassell admitted communicating with a 14-year-old and then meeting with her on 27 April with the intention of engaging in unlawful sexual activity.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching bail conditions.

Sheriff Drummond said his interpretation of the new act was that just arranging to meet the under-age girl carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison regardless of whether any sexual activity had taken place.

Wassell breached new legislation on internet grooming

He studied reports in which Wassell was regarded as a moderate to high risk of reoffending and also that he had developed an interest in sexual activity with under-age females.

The court heard that Wassell viewed internet porn for up to four hours, three days a week.

Passing sentence Sheriff Drummond said: "The behaviour of the accused has highlighted the kind of dangers that children are exposed to by new technology.

"He lied about his age and identity and followed up his mobile text message by travelling from Stirling to Eyemouth to have the meeting at a school.

"His sexual intentions were exposed by a text message sent to the female child the following day. He knew she was a schoolgirl and under age."

The sheriff imposed a jail sentence of two years and eight months for meeting the girl and a further four months, to run consecutively, for breaching bail conditions by contacting under-age girls.

Wassell was also placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

Defence lawyer Ian Angus had urged the sheriff to impose a period of probation with a restriction on access to computers or mobiles.