Dudley father of three groomed girl, 12, via social media and texts

The 'selfish desires' of Andrew Turner blighted the childhood of the victim and left her with nightmares in which the 31-year-old was going to rape her, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The grooming started with his request to be one of her friends on Facebook, developed through contact on Snapchat and ended with daily text messages, said Mr Bernard Linnemann, prosecuting.

Turner – whose wife is standing by him – admitted telling the girl in messages that she was sexy and pretty, that he loved her and was waiting until she was 16, it was said.

At his request she sent him a picture of herself pouting, as if kissing, and he responded with a photo of him in the bath, from the waist up.

"Partly she thought this was joking and partly she was involved. She became very fond of him. It was a dilemma for a child of 12," said Mr Linnemann.

Turner, of Court Crescent, invited her to meet him for a hug in an alleyway, but she refused and things began to unravel after his wife learned of his contact with the child.

Mr Nicholas Berry, defending, said: "The majority of this has been virtual contact through Facebook and the telephone.

"He is mortified by what he has done. He has issues which need to be addressed and a period of custody will not do that. The issues he has will be exacerbated if untreated. He needs prolonged, sustained intervention."

Turner admitted attempting to meet a girl under 16 and grooming the child for sexual activity between January and December last year.

The girl said in a victim impact statement that the defendant had warned he would harm her if she revealed what was going on.

She continued: "I was having nightmares in which he was going to rape me. I was scared to go to sleep, got tired and this affected what I was doing at school. It made me depressed and made me want to stay inside instead of going out with my friends. I was not doing the sort of things I should have been at my age."

Judge James Burbidge QC told Turner: "You obviously had sexual interest in this child and were persistent and persuasive over a period of months.

"You did not succeed in having sexual activity but were grooming for that purpose. You were caught early in this process but blighted her childhood."

Turner was given a three-year community order in which he will receive professional help and a 10-+year sexual harm prevention order keeping him away for young people and controlling his use of the internet.