January 2010
Chippenham man jailed for four years for under-age sex
A sex offender who got a 15-year-old girl pregnant has been jailed for four years.
Simon Webb escaped a prison term in 2004 after admitting having sex with an under-age girl he had net over the internet.
But the 26-year-old struck up a friendship with the child when she was still 14 years old as she walked past the house where he was living in 2008 wearing her school uniform.
And after chatting in the street and going to the cinema with the youngster he invited her in when no one else was at home and they twice had sex.
Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court today that the girl had started to become disruptive at home and stopped wanting to go to school.
He said her mother was concerned because she had always been a diligent pupil and after repeatedly confronting her about what was wrong the girl revealed she was pregnant.
The youngster gave an open account of what had happened when she spoke to the police telling them she had told Webb her age.
When he was questioned he admitted to the police that he had sex with the girl and Mr Meeke said ‘appeared to nonchalant’ at the news that she was pregnant.
However he insisted he had no idea she was under-age when he had sex with her.
Mr Meeke said that when she revealed her state it was well into the pregnancy and she went to full term and returned to education after the birth.
Webb, formerly of Brook Street, Chippenham, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child between the beginning of April and the end of July last year.
He had been due to stand trial on the new allegation but changed his plea before a jury could be sworn in.
Virginia Cornwall, defending, said here client had not targeted the girl and was not a sexual predator saying they became friends after meeting in the street.
Although the victim was underage she said that the sex had been consensual and part of a relationship.
Miss Cornwall suggested the fact the girl fell pregnant ‘could be seen as an aggravating feature’ of the case, but Judge McNaught asked how it could be seen as anything else.
She said “The baby in fact was not unwanted it would seem. It has been taken into the girl’s family and was taken in and loved.
“That is different in my submission where there has to be a termination or the baby is given up for adoption and a child’s life is ruined.”
Miss Cornwall said her client had learning difficulties and struggled at school and would be vulnerable in prison.
Passing sentence the judge said “The offence is serious for two reasons: firstly you didn’t use contraception and the girl became pregnant. That seems to me to be a serious aggravating feature despite what Miss Cornwall says about that.
“Then in July 2004 you were convicted of a similar offence with a similarly under aged young female.”
As well as jailing him he banned him from ever working with children, told him he must register as a sex offender for life and imposed a sexual offences prevention order restricting his liberty.
Webb was put on probation in 2004 after a court heard how he took a 14-year-old girl he had met in an internet chat room to Westbury white horse where he had sex with her.
The offence took place in September 2002, when he was aged 19, and after he had contacted the child with e-mails and text messages.
Webb was put on a two year probation order for that offence after a judge heard he was immature and represented a low risk of re-offending.
