Record details
A teaching assistant from Plymouth has been jailed after he admitted sexual activity - and filming it - with an underage girl. During the hearing, held at Bristol Crown Court, it was revealed how Callum Leech, of Kingsland Garden Close in Plymouth, met the girl via the social media site Snapchat when he was 21 years old and she was 14, but he claimed he was a teenager too.
The Crown Prosecution Service told prosecutor how the now 24-year-old Leech pleaded guilty in March this year to four offences - three of sexual activity with a child and one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
In addition, Leech admitted three offences of making indecent images of a child - the girl he had targeted - and three further offences of making indecent images of a separate child aged between 12 and 13 years old. The court heard that the images included still images and videos ranging from Category A - the most serious - through to Category C.
The prosecutor told Judge James Patrick the victim in the case was considered to have vulnerabilities and that her father became aware of the "relationship" in December 2020 where Leech claimed he was 16.
In January 2021, a multi-agency strategy meeting was held as his own employer - a primary school - became concerned about a potential "inappropriate sexual relationship" with the girl. At that point he denied the relationship was sexual.
Police and social workers met with the girl but she also denied any sexual element to their relationship.
Leech was arrested in February 2021 and during interview he denied it was a sexual relationship and that he met her through Snapchat when she was 14. His laptop and mobile phone was seized but he refused to offer passwords to access them.
He was made subject of a child abduction warning notice on release and on February 4, 2021 the investigating officer spoke with the girl at her school and she revealed that Leech had bought her a new mobile phone and there was a "significant" amount of contact recorded on it between them.
Police later discovered that over the next six months there were thousands of pages of messages between Leech and the girl, including her efforts to end their relationship but with him talking her out of it, making claims that he would harm himself.
In June 2021 he was arrested again and offered no comment to all questions about the messages as well as the images and videos of Leech and his victim engaging in sexual activity on a phone seized by police.
Investigators also learned he had engaged with other young girls on Snapchat using "overfamiliar language" and a what the prosecution said was a "real sexual interest in underaged girls". A search of his bedroom in June 2021 revealed photos of children in school uniform aged between nine years and 10 years old.
The court heard this was the same age group as the children he was in contact with as a Teaching Assistant. The prosecutor said police also found notes, which were effectively "love letters" between Leech and his victim, where there was frequent use of the word "Daddy".
In parallel, one of the victim's teachers confiscated the phone and saw lots of notifications from Leech around the time he was arrested and re-interviewed. She shared her concerns with fellow staff members.
The prosecutor noted how the girl herself had a number of real vulnerabilities and had been allocated a base worker to support her as there were concerns she was at risk of sexual exploitation. While the girl was not initially keen to engage at that time, when she turned 18 in early 2024 she came forward and revealed the extent of the abuse she had suffered.
She admitted that they had met frequently after she was 14 and that he would buy her chocolates and flowers and message her repeatedly. She told police she now realised she was "bombarded" by him and admitted that they would meet after school. She revealed he did not tell her the reason for his arrest and confirmed that they would have sexual activity "pretty much every time they met".
The court heard that a number of the images and videos seized from Leech were of him engaging in sex with his victim or of them engaging in sexual activity online.
The prosecutor noted that Leech had no previous convictions.
In mitigation, Leech's legal advocate explained that his client was a young man with his own vulnerabilities and that during the long wait for the case to come to court had self harmed.
Judge Patrick noted a pre-sentence report and a psychiatrist's report and guidelines on sentencing young persons. He noted Leech's "highly disadvantaged early development" and how he had developed an "attachment disorder" as a result.
He acknowledged the timeline of the incidents and how Leech had breached the trust of the girl despite being fully aware of the importance of protecting her, thanks to his role as a teaching assistant. He noted that Leech did not only film the sexual activity, but retained the footage. He also noted how Leech had lied to the authorities about the true nature of his relationship with the girl and that he did not stop continuing to contact her even when she told him her mental health was suffering and even went on to contact other girls who were under the age of 16.
He accepted Leech's advocate's point that this was not a "pseudo-rape" case, but that there was grooming and filming and Leech had tried to conceal evidence.
Judge Patrick said he believe Leech was "more susceptible to offending" due to his background and the attachment issues he had "suffered" made him "less able to control" himself and forge appropriate relationships, but the background to all this was "you knew that what you were doing was wrong", having "groomed her", as well as lied to her and his parents about his age.
Having noted the mitigating and aggravating factors, as well as the reports, the delay in the court case and sentencing guidelines, Judge Patrick passed a sentence of 44 months.
He said Leech would serve half before being released on licence and he would be placed on the Sex Offenders' register for life. In addition he would be barred from working with children and vulnerable young adults for life, and would be subject of a restraining order and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further notice.
