Paedophile travelled 175 miles to meet up with 14-year-old
MAN JAILED FOR 30 MONTHS FOR HAVING SEX WITH TEENAGER IN HOTEL
A WEST London paedophile groomed a schoolgirl he met online before travelling 175 miles to have sex with her, a court has heard.
Adrian Fernandez was 19 when he first contacted the “vulnerable” 14-year-old girl on social media.
They messaged regularly on Snapchat and Instagram as Fernandez, from Church Road, Hayes, also sent her gifts.
He continued to groom the girl and booked a room in the Dragon
Hotel, in Swansea, to have sex with her, as reported by Wales Online.
Ashanti-Jade Walton, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that Fernandez and the girl initially met on a site called Pickle and described the victim as a “vulnerable young child” because of her personal circumstances.
She said the defendant “groomed the complainant” and the gifts he sent included make-up and a hoodie, with a note in the pocket in which he referred to the girl as his “princess”.
The court heard that in July 2019,
Fernandez booked a room in the city centre Dragon Hotel where the pair met and had sex. Fernandez was arrested at his home in London in September of the same year.
Miss Walton said the defendant told officers he had moved to the UK from India in the summer of 2018 and had downloaded and used the Pickle app in order to meet people and make friends.
Fernandez, now aged 21, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child.
Thomas Davidson, who represented Fernandez in court, said the defendant came from a good home with a supportive family and it is “highly unlikely he will ever come before the courts again”.
Judge Paul Thomas QC said that from everything he had read and seen of the case it was his view that the defendant was trying to portray himself a victim who had been “seduced by some sort of young temptress”, but the reality was he had groomed the girl and then travelled to Swansea “with the sole intention of having sex”.
The judge told the defendant he had read a letter submitted to the court by his parish priest and it gave him no pleasure to say that the document shows “more incredulity and naiveté on his part than on yours”.
He said the offending showed a degree of planning, deviousness and conniving.
Giving Fernandez a 25% discount for his guilty pleas, the judge sentenced him to 30 months in prison.
Fernandez will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.
He was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.