March 2007
Jail for man who ‘groomed’ girl (12) over Internet
A 23-year-old Nelson man has been jailed for 3½ years after he groomed a 12-year-old girl on the Internet and travelled across the country for love trysts with her in hotel rooms.
Michael Lockwood swopped sex stories in chat rooms and text-messages with the under-age girl before booking hotels in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Guildford, Surrey, where they met.
Judge Michael Addison, sentencing at Guildford Crown Court, reminded Lockwood how he had met the 12-year-old girl on the Internet and steered conversations to a sexual agenda: “You asked her for naked pictures and she sent them to you. She said she was in love with you and you said you loved her. By this time you knew she was just 12.”
In December, 2005, when he was 21 and she was 13, they arranged to meet and he booked a hotel room in Banbury where the pair kissed and cuddled but there was no sexual contact.
A month later, Lockwood, of Swaine Street, travelled 250 miles to meet the girl in a Guildford hotel where sexual activities took place.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told school friends about the relationship and Lockwood was arrested last July.
He admitted the offences of meeting a child following sexual grooming, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and two counts of sexual activity with a child.
Mr Anthony Brigden (defending) told the court of his client’s remorse and how he was ashamed of himself.Referring to the lack of actual sex, he added: “He did not push the matter. He stopped when he could have gone further.”
Further to the jail term, Lockwood will be subjected to a sexual prevention order stopping him from associating with or befriending children, accessing child-related sites and contacting the victim. He will be put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
The judge told Lockwood: “You deliberately set up these meetings and booked these hotels in Banbury and Guildford. You knew perfectly well what you were doing with this relationship.”
Noting the girl’s active involvement in the relationship, he said: “Girls of this age must be protected from themselves.”
