Wigan youth tried to get a 14-year-old to have sex with him in a hotel

The then 17-year-old was staying at a Travelodge hotel in Telford while working in the area and began sending the child Instagram messages.

A judge heard that he told her his coorect age, asked if she was a virgin and if they could “kiss and cuddle and more if you would.”

She agreed to meet him and he asked if she would have sex and send him nude photographs of herself, said Andrew Page, prosecuting.

“Will you 100 per cent have sex?” he asked but she did not respond.”

Mr Page told Liverpool Magistrates’ Court that she asked his room number but she did not turn up. Meanwhile she had told an friend who had also had Instagram messages from him inviting her to his hotel room for sexual activity.

She contacted him saying he was asking “some random girl” three years younger than he was to go to his hotel room.

She called the police on the girl’s behalf but was not willing to provide details of conversations they had had.

Police arrested him at the hotel and his two telephones and tablet were seized. They were examined and messages via Snapchat and Instagram were found asking if the girl was coming to his hotel.

“He agreed he had sent messages to the victim and knew she was 14 and knew it was bad but thought it would be OK because he was under 18.

He said he had offered to pay for a taxi to the hotel but not for services. “He said he was bored in the hotel, he worked long hours and did not think it was that bad.”

Quizzed about asking her if she was a virgin he replied that, “he would not let it go that far, it was just in his head.” He said he knew asking her for nude photographs was “going too far.”

The defendant, who is now 20, mainatined that he “was just being a lad. It was all in my head and it would not have led to anything.”

He was also found to have two videos of extreme pornography on his phone, one involving a man and a cow and the other a woman and a dog. Mr Page said that these had been downloaded in May 2018 when the defendant was 15.

The young man pleaded guilty to arranging the commission of a child sexual offence in February 2020 and possessing extreme pornographic images.

Ben Stanley, defending, pointed out that there had been a considerable delay in the case reaching court and the defendant is now 20.

The videos had been sent to him when he was 15 by friends on Snapchat but he accepts how serious the offences are. “He fully admits the messages were sexual in nature.”

Mr Stanley said that the defendant had brought the conversations to an end and told the girl he would re-arrange their proposed meeting till the next evening - when he knew he would not be there any longer.

He added that the defendant lives with his parents and is working, bringing in a good income. “He was immature at the time and has begun steps to get his life back on track.”

District Judge Timothy Bosworth told the defendant, “They are very serious offences.”

He said it had taken a long time for the case to get to court and if he had been sentenced when still a juvenile he would had received a referral order and the court had to take as its starting point the sentence that would have been imposed then.

The judge consequently imposed an 18-month community order and ordered him to carry out 200 hours’ unpaid work and 35 days’ rehabilitation activities.

He must attend the probation service horizon programme for sex offenders and pay £205 costs.

“Your immaturity is a theme throughout the probation report and there is work to be done for you to fully realise the impact that this behaviour can have and to reduce the risk of repetition.”

DJ Bosworth pointed out that if he had been an adult when he committed the offences he might have been sent to the crown court and received a custodial sentence.