Man filmed under-age girl carrying out sex act on him (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Man filmed under-age girl carrying out sex act on him

8:00am Friday 7th September 2012 in News By Stuart Arnold

A YOUNG man with a number of previous convictions for harassment and violence filmed an under-age girl performing a sex act on him, a court heard.

Police had been monitoring Ian Pritchard amid fears he had abducted the teenager and had previously arrested him when she was found at his home.

Pritchard, 18, of Middleton St George, near Darlington, was bailed, but days later the girl was reported missing from her home, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Officers discovered Pritchard had booked a room for her at a Darlington hotel, although did not stay himself.

There was further contact between the pair, despite police warnings, and a search warrant uncovered a mobile phone containing pornographic videos at his home.

One showed the girl performing a sex act, said Shaun Dodds, prosecuting. Pritchard was identified from an electronic tag on his leg.

Dan Cordey, mitigating, said: “This is not a man in his 30s or 40s who is with a 14 or 15- year-old girl.

“He is somebody who has a lot of growing up and maturing to do.” Judge Peter Armstrong said he would have jailed Prit-chard, who admitted sexual activity with a girl under 16 and making an indecent movie, had he posted the sex video on the internet.

He told him: “You know her age and the age of consent is 16, yet you went ahead and carried out this sexual activity.

Young girls like this sometimes need protection from themselves.”

Judge Armstrong said jailing Pritchard would have proved inadequate as he would not be supervised or monitored once released.

Instead he made him the subject of a five-year sexual offences prevention order, forbidding him from having unsupervised contact with any female under 16.

He was also ordered to attend a sexual offenders treatment programme and was placed on the sex offenders register for five years.

Detective Sergeant Carl Moss, of Durham Police, said the offences committed had had a profound impact on the victim’s life.

He said: “I am pleased that she will now be able to reflect on how his behaviour has changed her, free from his control and with appropriate support to help her move forward.”