This is Staffordshire --FARM worker Thomas Mayers has been locked up for more than six years after pestering two young girls – aged 12 and 13 – into having sex with him.
Mayers asked the girls to send him photos of themselves naked and invited them to his home.
The 20-year-old started chatting to the 12-year-old on Facebook, asking for intimate photos and repeatedly inviting her over. She sent him pictures 'because he would not leave her alone,' Stafford Crown Court heard.
When she did go to the house, Mayers started kissing her as they sat on a sofa and pestered her for sex. Stephen Bailey, prosecuting, said: "She told him she was too young, but the defendant just said 'you'll be fine'."
The girl did not know what to do, so said 'okay' and they had sex on his bed. Around the same time, a 13-year-old girl met Mayers at a local park.
He asked her for photos, but she refused. However the girl did go to Mayers's home and had sex in his bed. On a subsequent occasion, Mayers had sex with her in a barn.
Police arrested him six months later, and Mayers claimed he did not know one girl was only 12 and that the 13-year-old looked older.
Mr Bailey said that during the commission of these offences, Mayers was cautioned by the police for having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl.
Mayers, of Main Road, Hollington, near Tean, admitted one charge of statutory child rape, two charges of sexual activity with a child and three other sexual offences involving the two girls.
Sending Mayers to youth custody for 81 months, Judge Amjad Nawaz told him: "You knew how old these girls were. They could not have given the impression they were significantly older. You had effectively pestered them to send photos having gained their confidence.
"When the 12-year-old told you she was too young and you told her she would be fine as though you were doing her a favour, it's singularly unattractive. The caution ought to have been a warning to you, but it failed to have the effect."
Mayers was also made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from living with girls under 16 and unsupervised contact with girls under 18.
Michael Grey, defending, said Mayers was only 19 himself when he abused the girls.
He added: "Why did he not heed the caution? His instruction was he was more concerned with his parents. He had to leave his mother's house and had to live with his grandparents. As part of the caution, he was sat down with a police officer and had explained what his behaviour meant to the girl." Reported by This is 16 hours ago.