A 21-YEAR-OLD Filey man has been jailed for 18 months after admitting indulging in sexual activity with a young girl.
David Nathanial Briggs committed the offences after he was asked leave the family home in West Avenue for being convicted of a drink-driving offence.
Briggs, who had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to two charges of sexual activity with a chi
ld and who admitted knowing the girl was under age, was sentenced at York Crown Court.
He was found not guilty of a number of other sexual offences including a charge of rape.
Matthew Bean, prosecuting, told the court how Briggs told the girl he "loved" her.
The victim's mother became suspicious after reading a text message on her daughter's phone and confronted Briggs, who passed the message off as a joke.
However, after the mother found further explicit text messages, the police were informed.
Briggs told officers the girl had had a crush on him and had been harassing him.
He added that, although he had kissed her on one occasion, he perceived his relationship with the girl to be that of an older brother.
Nicholas Lumley, mitigating, said Briggs did not represent a danger to other children in the future.
Judge Stephen Ashurst told Briggs the law reflects how adults should behave and that young girls were often not the best judges as to when they should have sexual relationships. Briggs was also placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and banned from working with children for five years.
