Jail for bus driver who took teen to hotels

A BUS driver who took a young girl away on weekend trips to hotels and took indecent photos of her has been locked up.

Anthony Wayne Hughes befriended the girl of 14 while driving his bus, and began to contact her through online gaming.

He began to take her away on weekend trips to Llandudno and Blackpool, accompanied by one of the girl’s friends. But the girls’ parents had no idea where they were spending their weekends, or who with. When the ‘relationship’ ended, the girl told her parents and they contacted the police.

Officers found a video of Hughes and the girl dancing in a hotel room while they were both partially undressed, as well as other indecent photos of her.

Jailing Hughes, 52, of Snowdon Street in Penygroes, at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said: “I take into account all that has been said but I am satisfied these offences are so serious only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.

“Her parents suspected something. They thought she had a boyfriend and it never occurred to them he was a 52-year-old married man.”

When arrested and interviewed, Hughes admitted he had taken the girl to a hotel and accepted the images on his computer were of the girl and had been taken when she was under 16.

Dafydd Roberts, defending, asked the court to give Hughes credit for his guilty plea and his admissions during interview. Mr Roberts said he had lost his job as a result but had found another job as a lorry driver.

An indefinate Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made and Hughes was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register.