August 2014
Facebook groomer Samuel Bowers exposed his penis to schoolgirl in Cambridgeshire marina
A man who groomed two schoolgirls on Facebook and exposed himself to one of them at a Cambridgeshire marina has been spared jail.
Samuel Bowers, 22 sent one of the 15-year-old girls a sexually explicit picture of himself on the social networking site and then grabbed a girl he had lured to Isleham marina – before showing her his genitals.
Bowers, who admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming and sexual activity with a child under 16 in 2013, was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years with supervision.
Jonathan Seely, prosecuting at Cambridge Crown Court, said Bowers sent sexual messages to the first victim on Facebook and tried to get her to meet him. He also admitted sending her a picture of his private parts, but told police the “flirting” was “general banter”.
He then spoke to a girl from a troubled background with mental health issues and met up with her at the marina, where he made unwanted sexual advances including lifting up her top, the barrister said.
Mr Seely, who said Bowers knew the girls were underage, added: “She told officers that when they were at the marina he kissed her and she said she did not want to. He said she did want it and he pushed her against a wall and told her she wanted to have sex and he then exposed his penis to her.”
Simon Spence, mitigating, said his client had only recently been diagnosed with an autism-related condition.
He said: “He is clearly a vulnerable young man. He has come to court prepared for a prison sentence. He is full of trepidation about how he will cope with that.”
He added he is undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy “to make him understand the outside world better than he does”.
As well as the suspended sentence, Bowers, of Sparkes Close, Isleham, was made subject to a sexual offences prevention order, which runs indefinitely and includes a ban on unsupervised contact with children and restrictions on computer use.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth, sentencing, said: “The most important feature of your behaviour, its seems to be clear from the various reports that I have read, is that you are substantially disadvantaged mentally-speaking as a result of a syndrome that you suffer from.
“That has the effect of making you awkward in company and it makes it very difficult for you as to how you approach the issues of contact.
“You are a young man who as a result of that is somewhat isolated with few friends and the friends that you do have are younger than yourself.”
He added: “These were two young girls, one of which was particularly vulnerable, who suffered significantly as a result of your attentions.”
