Severe punishment for unknown underage sex.

Initially I felt the same way as KateF.

Then I decided to try to find out what sentence this man could have been given, as on the surface, 2years+ seemed a harsh.
Especially considering this seems to have been his first offence.
The sentencing guidelines start at community service and go up to 7 or 10years.

IMV Its looks like the judge was of the opinion that this man was not blameless, and as such has given him (imv) an appropriate sentence to reflect this.

Clearly if the judge thought the man was 'preyed' upon by a predatory girl who without doubt looked 19yrs, he could have been given a much lighter non custodial sentence.
He chose not to, for reasons we can only speculate upon.

To my mind, its a bit like the buyer beware caveat when buying second hand cars. Predatory men who think casual pickups are there for the taking should bear the responsibility if all goes wrong.

The girl was/is a vulnerable child with difficulties, and as such should always be protected from herself, her choices and others exploitation.

Just wondering what ss could have done to help prevent this, and why her family didn't have the house locked down if they feared for her welfare? She seems a danger to herself.

I think if a guy has any doubt whatsoever, he should walk away.

A 12 year olds body can’t have been developed enough.

Silly man.

Some reports are saying that they actually met in Instagram not a dating website. And the detective said the man would have clearly known she wasn't an adult.
Even if she was a legal age, he sent photos of her. Horrible creep. He deserves what he gets.

I feel the man has been judged harshly, it looks as though the girl obviously has previous form - at the very least there is more to this story than meets the eye. I can't help but remember what my friends and I got up to at 13 or 14 back in the seventies ?

A lot of the attitudes on here explain why the sex trafficking scandals have
happened.

Also it’s insulting to men in general

My daughter looked very mature at 12.
5ft 7 tall, big boobs, long blonde hair.
I was always having to shout at men "she's bloody 13!" when we were out an about.
It was just how she looked, not contrived, or trying to look older.

You are joking aren’t you, a 12 year old girl would look like a 12yeat old in the way they look, dress, talk and act.

This girl is obviously very vunerable with an extremely difficult life to be engaging in this behaviour.

The man on the other hand is a low down dirt bag who will have time to think about what a low life he is.

Do you think they actually did much talking though?

Some of the 20 year olds and older who I have seen on reality tv programmes such as Big Brother don't seem particularly mature to me!

I do believe that a 12 year old can have the figure of a 19 year old but their faces are likely to look 15 or 16 maximum. The main thing is that talking to a 12 year old it soon becomes obvious that they are still a child. There is a huge mental and emotional gap between 12 and 19 even if some 12 year olds are physically advanced.

What a sad, lost, precocious girl.....craving love and affection I guess.

Helen Shapiro aged 14

The girl is said to have s social worker. It may be she was sexually experienced at 12 because of abuse or sexual exploitation. He was a 27 year old adult, she a 12 year old girl. The court had all the information, found him guilty and sent him to hmp.

I refuse to believe that any 12 year old, no matter how mature, well developed etc etc could possibly pass herself off as 19, especially once her clothes were off.

I have a rising 12 year old GD, who is tall and well built for her age and very adept at dressing herself up and applying make-up and frankly there is no way that she could pass herself off as 16 let alone older, even if she dressed and made herself up with an intention of appearing as old as possible.

How could a 12 year old be out all night and no one notice

Crossed posts, grandmaKT, but it looks like we both drew the same conclusion from reading the article.

I just read the whole article, and they met on a dating app, where her profile stated she was 19.
Yes, he has behaved badly, taking a photo of her and so on, but perhaps he did think she was 19?
If 19 year olds want to meet up with men they barely know and go home with them, and allow them to take pics, well...

Just going by the same information that you have, in the article, I get a completely different impression MOnica.
You call him an unpleasant and predatory young man - I can see no evidence that he was either. They met through a normal adult dating site (not one advertising young girls), she said in her profile that she was 19 and experienced.
She suggested that they go back to his apartment. They had one alcoholic drink (he did not ply her with alcohol as has been suggested). They performed a consensual sexual act. Obviously if he had known her to be under age this would have been criminal. However, the prosecution lawyer said " 'He didn't believe he was talking to a child who was under 18. When they spent the night at his property, he believed she was over 18".

That should read "It would also give a precedent^ if he had been acquitted.

It does sound as though he was rather a cad. Whatever the age of the girls he dated, distributing photographs to his friends is not an honourable way to behave. But I agree with Jane10 - there is more to this story than is being publicised, and given her age, it is likely to stay untold.

She seems to have genuinely appeared to be older - should he have asked to see a birth certificate? There are girls who are much more mature at 12 than others are at 19 and can appear to be that age if they wish to. Can talk as though they are older too - if they have an interest in the world their conversation may be as wide and as sensible as a twenty-year-old's.

However, without all the details I would assume that the judge knew more than we do and probably got it right. It also gives a precedent to others who are not deceived by the mere statement from a girl that she is old enough to consent, but the men go ahead anyway - they will think they can claim ignorance.

As far as I know all the information we have reached conclusions on is in the public domain.

So easy to judge without any actual knowledge. If only life was as simple as you lot seem to think it is. It must be lovely for you.

I can't understand the excuses either MOnica

He was 27. She was 12.

He was an adult. She was 12.

He is to blame. She is not.

anja it is not about believing anything. It is just my opinion based on the information in the public domain and my experience with the young people I know... as most of us base our opinions on. I know there are GNers who have SW experience in the area of sexual exploitation..They will know better than me.

Why do people spend so much time making excuses for men like this. He might be an alien from outer space for all we know. Yes, there are naive young men, there are incredibly mature 12 year olds, but very very few of either, even less do you get the two coming together.

I take cases like this at face value until I am given very solid evidence to the contrary. I do not think naive young men take lots of explicit pictures and send them to their friends.

This was an unpleasant and predatory man who has got what he deserved.