Manjailed afterhaving sexwitha teenager (15)
A CO Armagh man who repeatedly had sex with a teenage schoolgirl has been handed a one year sentence.
Ordering Liam Thornbury (30) to spend half his sentence in jail and half on supervised licence, Craigavon Crown Court judge Patrick Lynch QC said while he accepted the defendant “is not a predator in the classic sense,” he had nevertheless less “made the deliberate decision” to have sex with the 15-year-old.
Thornbury, from Lakelands in Craigavon, was also ordered to sign the police sex offenders register for 10 years while prosecution counsel Ian Tannahill said he would be seeking a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Previously, Thornbury had pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of sexual communication with a child in November 2015. The latter related to her sending Thornbury two nude images of herself and him sending her a picture of his genitals.
The court heard how Thornbury sent sexually explicit texts to the girl, despite knowing she was only 15-years-old.
At one stage, the girl told him that she “looked about 12” as she has no make up on.
Thornbury asked her if she was still in her uniform and when she confirmed she was, told her “it would be so hot to f*** a schoolgirl”.
Defence QC Peter Irvine had argued that due to the Thornbury having Aspergers Syndrome, the length of time the case took to come to court, his guilty pleas and clear record, the judge could treat the case as being exceptional and not send the defendant to immediate custody.
Jailing Thornbury, however, Judge Lynch said the case was not exceptional as he had known the victim’s age, arranged to see her on repeated occasions and had continued to communicate with her, when “there was no reason whatsoever why he shouldn’t walk away from the situation.”