Spiritualist and counsellor, 62, jailed after grooming schoolgirl
A counsellor who engaged in sexual activity in his car with a schoolgirl he previously groomed has been jailed for five years.
George Pryce, aged 62, known as a spiritualist and counsellor, got the teenager to lie to her parents so they could meet.
The defendant and the young girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had also exchanged explicit material on Facebook and mobile phones.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Pryce appeared for sentence having admitted 15 sexual offences at a previous hearing.
Judge Peter Barrie said the troubled girl had approached Pryce as a counsellor and he had breached and betrayed the victim's trust and got her to lie to her parents.
He told Pryce that, while there was no suggestion the teenager was unwilling in the events, the defendant had a heavy responsibility as the adult not to lead her into such damaging behaviour.
"There was sexual activity after you deliberately set out to meet her and to get her to deceive her parents," he said.
The court heard the planning, grooming and the huge disparity in age were clear aggravating features.
Pryce, of Wolseley Bridge, Stafford, and formerly from the Bishop's Castle area, had pleaded guilty to an offence of meeting a child after grooming and four allegations of sexual activity with a child in October and November, 2015. He also admitted charges of causing a child to watch a sex act and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity relating to the exchange of explicit pictures on Facebook and phones.
The court heard when Pryce was arrested in December 2015, police found his computer contained thousands of indecent images of children, as well as videos and dozens of items of extreme pornography.
Mrs Debra White, for Pryce, said her client realised what he had done was wrong and was making efforts to address his offending behaviour.
She said Pryce, who had no previous convictions, refuted a suggestion he used his spiritualist work to meet and flirt with women and had assisted and helped many people.
Mrs White said her client had recently been staying at a hospice having been diagnosed with cancer.
