Update: Now living in Lampeter, Ceredigion

September 2014

Man had sex with 14-year-old Sunderland girl after grooming her on Facebook

A man who had sex with an underage girl after grooming her on Facebook has been jailed for four years.

Shane Blackmore, who was 20, exchanged explicit messages with the 14-year-old over the social networking site.

He then invited her to his shared flat, where he convinced her to have sex in a room where his friends were sleeping.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the girl, who had told her mother she was staying over at a friend’s house, had been “reluctant” to engage in sex acts, but Blackmore had become angry when she refused.

Prosecutor Julian Smith, said: “He was asking her to have sex with him, as she had put him in that state, of arousal, and she ought to get him out of it.”

Blackmore, now 22, who was living in a bedsit at the Cloisters in Sunderland when the offences took place, admitted grooming and sexual activity with a child.

The court heard the girl told a friend she “hated herself” for what she had agreed to that night, and has been deeply affected by her ordeal.

Judge Deborah Sherwin said Blackmore must abide by the terms of a sexual offences prevention order, and sign the Sex Offenders’ register for life.

The judge said: “I have read the victim impact statement which sets out what has happened to her. She comes over as an intelligent young lady.

“She shows all the immaturity one might expect of a young girl her age. These matters have clearly effected her and her family greatly.”

The court hear Blackmore had pestered the girl to send him indecent pictures of herself, and had sent her images of his private parts before the night at his bedsit.