Telford man, 37, who sent sex texts to schoolgirl escapes jail term
A Telford man who sent text messages to a schoolgirl to entice her into a sexual encounter has escaped immediate prison and been given a chance of rehabilitation.
Damian Hollyhead, 37, of Victoria Court, Hadley, had targeted the young teenage victim, sending her inappropriate messages.
It led to a charge of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity after the girl became upset at school and told a friend who alerted teachers.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Judge Peter Barrie said the troubling aspect was the defendant's state of mind in not realising it his actions were very serious and that he saw it as "just a bit of banter".
"While you did not intend to upset her, you did not think and were guided by your sexual interest," he said.
Judge Barrie said Hollyhead needed to understand why his actions were so serious and the age difference was an aggravating feature.
Hollyhead was given a three-year community order with supervision and must attend a sex offenders' programme, which Judge Barrie said was likely to be more demanding than a short period of custody.
He was also made subject of a sexual offences prevention order and placed on the sex offenders register, which will both run for five years.
In addition Hollyhead was ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work for an offence of burglary and must pay £150 compensation to the burglary victim and £350 towards court costs.
The court heard that unemployed Hollyhead had sent eight text messages to the schoolgirl on November 25 last year. He had denied the charge of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity but was found guilty after a two-day trial last month.
At court, Hollyhead was also due to face trial on a charge of burglary, but changed his plea to guilty
Mr William Dudley, prosecuting, said that Hollyhead broke into the Oasis Dental Practice in Church Street, Wellington, in February this year. Police later recovered Hollyhead's DNA from the broken window.
Miss Elizabeth Power, for Hollyhead, said her client had sent the messages to the girl on a single day and it had been an "aberration" and that he had believed it was banter.
She said that in hindsight he knows it was not appropriate.
