December 2014
Yeovil man who groomed schoolgirls on Facebook for sex escapes prison sentence
A YEOVIL man who groomed “vulnerable” teenage girls for sex through social media has been spared a prison sentence after a judge said it would not help him reform.
Jacob Wood, 20, of Charles Road, contacted girls aged 14 and 15 through Facebook and other sites and incited them to engage in sex, Taunton Crown Court was told.
He admitted four charges of sexual activity with a child, five of causing or inciting a child to engage in sex and one of causing a child to watch a sexual act. He asked for seven further offences to be taken into consideration.
Mary McCarthy, prosecuting, said he sent explicit pictures to girls and, in some cases, arranged to meet them. He had full sexual intercourse with five of the girls. Some of the offences occurred while he was on bail.
An investigation began in South Yorkshire when the mother of a 14 year-old girl discovered she had sent him pictures of herself in her nightwear and he became abusive and threatened to post them online.
Wood made full admissions of his offences during police interviews.
Patrick Mason, defending, said he left school with “unremarkable results” and “inappropriate dealings” with girls came out at an early age.
Judge Graham Cottle said: “The use of the internet to meet young girls and to exchange pictures with a view to a later sexual encounter has escalated very significantly.
“Young people do make mistakes and they make them, mainly, because they are young and immature and lacking in understanding.” he added.
Wood was sentenced to a community order with three years supervision and a sex offenders programme. He was also given a sex offenders’ prevention order for five years.
