Pervert exploited girl, 14
APERVERT who was found in bed with a teenage girl in care he had been secretly messaging on Snapchat was blasted by a judge for seeking to ‘condone’ the abuse of vulnerable kids.
Billy Hibbert 22, has been accused of ruining the young girl’s life after she developed strong feelings for him and repeatedly ran away from home to stay with him. He was twice seen on CCTV kissing her.
Hibbert has now been jailed by a judge who said he had ‘exploited’ the vulnerable 14-year-old ‘for a sexual purpose’ and had sought to justify it by saying she was a “looked after child.” The girl, who is under the care of foster parents, was settled with the family and at school until she met Hibbert, the court was told.
However she was reported missing on December 30 last year.
After a tip-off about her whereabouts, police attended a flat at a tower block in Stockport where Hibbert, who has no fixed address of his own, had been staying.
He told them that he had not seen the girl for couple of days but admitted that he would sometimes let her come to sleep on the sofa in the flat or sit in the front room.
However when officers searched the flat they found her hiding under a blanket on the sofa where they had been sitting.
CCTV from the block of flats, which only emerged later, showed Hibbert and the girl kissing in the lift.
He was arrested and when interviewed he insisted their relationship was “entirely platonic.”
The girl also said no abduction had taken place so he was released and was never charged in relation to this incident.
However his bail conditions stipulated he wasn’t to have any contact with anyone under the age of 18.
He has a five-year-old daughter of his own who he has no contact with, the court was told.
The victim in the case was reported missing again on Valentines Day, February 14, this year.
When police attended the flat again the following day, they were told that there was no one there but again when officers searched the flat they found the girl hiding on the balcony.
Police were told that during the night, around 1am, the girl asked the woman whose flat it was if she could sleep in her bed.
When the woman’s partner went back into the bedroom in the morning Hibbert was also in bed with the girl and he had his hand resting on her thigh.
Hibbert was arrested and interviewed again and said he had kissed the girl on the cheek a couple of times to “console and reassure her” but continued to maintain that he was not in a sexual relationship with her, Andrew Mackintosh, prosecuting said.
The girl said denied any sexual contact between them saying their relationship was like that “of a brother and sister” and that she was staying at the flat for a “pamper party.”
But the following day she sent the defendant a message “in which she apologised for getting him arrested and told him that she loved him and missed him. He replied telling her to message him on Snapchat and sending her a heart emoji”, Mr Mackintosh said.
The judge told the court she believed he encouraged her to use that specific social media app as it was “secret” and left “no trace of messages.”
In a subsequent interview the girl admitted she had “strong feelings” for him.
She was reported missing a third time on February 27 this year and when officers attended the flat they “found the defendant on the sofa in the living room pretending to be asleep and (the girl) hiding under a chair on the balcony” Mr Mackintosh said.
She later admitted she had smoked cannabis whilst she was there.
Whilst separate CCTV footage also showed them again kissing in the lift.
Hibbert, of no fixed address, was charged and pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction and one count of sexual activity with a child and was sentenced by a judge sitting at Minshull Street Crown on Thursday afternoon.
Hibbert appeared at the hearing via videolink from prison with legal counsel speaking via a video conference app in line with current court practice.
In a statement read to the court, the girl’s foster father said she was settled and happy before she met Hibbert but then: “She became secretive and stopped coming home.
“She started going missing for three or four nights. She wanted to spend all her time with this man and stay with him night after night.
“The hold he had over her was too strong.
“He took advantage of her with no concern for her mental health or wellbeing.
“The relationship with her family has been badly damaged. I am angry he thought nothing of ruining a young girl’s life like that.”
Thomas McKail defending admitted his client was aware she was vulnerable.
“Mr Hibbert would say he was sympathetic to her and this was not grooming or predatory” he said.
“This was a relationship where boundaries had been crossed.”
However he said Hibbert’s “decision making and emotional control were clearly absent” and that his mental health was “clearly a factor” with him now being medicated for both anxiety and depression.
“He accepts what he has done is wrong and apologises as much as he can,” he added.
However Judge Tina Landale said he had showed “no remorse” as she sentenced him to 21 months behind bars.
Passing sentence she said: “The child concerned was 14 years old and you were 22.
“She was an impressionable and vulnerable girl subject of a full care order. You knew very well she was a vulnerable child.
“I am satisfied you targeted her, exploited her and that you did so for a sexual purpose.
“Your attitude seeks to condone similar offending against vulnerable children.”
She also made a restraining order banning him from contacting her and a sexual harm prevention order, both lasting for 10 years.
‘You knew very well she was a vulnerable child’