A SEX offender was spared jail after admitting to having sexual activity with a child.

Jeffrey Dixon, of Bigland Drive, Ulverston, was given a suspended prison sentence by a judge at Preston Crown Court.

He had previously admitted to having sexual contact with a girl, who was 14 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard that last year the 24-year-old kissed and inappropriately touched his victim.

The court was also told police found a number of “sexually explicit” text messages on the victim’s phone.

Dixon, a former sergeant in the Air Cadets, was told his behaviour was not fitting for someone with such a position of authority.

In Dixon’s defence, Roger Baldwin said: “You will rarely have seen a more impressive set of character references.

“They have obviously heard about the matter and their reaction was to support him.”

Sentencing, Judge Christopher Cornwall said: “Had any one of them been asked before whether you would commit such a crime every single one would have said ‘not a chance’. But you did.

“She is incapable of consenting because she does not know what she is consenting to – you, however, knew perfectly well.”

Judge Cornwall agreed the defendant was “genuinely remorseful” and said that while there was some public interest in issuing a community order over a suspended sentence, the nature of the crime gave him little choice.

While he said the chance of the defendant reoffending was low, he added: “It cannot be entirely ruled out.

“It seems to me that in your case there is a genuine insight into the enormity of what you have done.”

But he said the 10-year age discrepancy between the defendant and his victim was an aggravating factor in the case.

Dixon was given a 32-week sentence, suspended for two years, which includes a two-year supervision order.

The judge also issued a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to stop him having unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16, and forbidding him to make contact with the victim, for five years.

Dixon was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years and pay £400 in prosecution costs.