Locations
Haddon Road, Heald Green, Cheadle, Greater Manchester, SK8
Description
A man who groomed a teenage girl by plying her with alcohol has been jailed. Jordan Robinson, 21, met the girl at the park before he began inviting her and her friends back to a flat in Manchester.
He plied them with alcohol, namely vodka, Minshull Street Crown Court heard. The girl, 13, then began visiting the flat alone where Robinson continued giving her alcohol with the intent to commit a sexual offence.
Following a trial, he was found guilty of being an adult meeting a child following grooming, and was acquitted of an offence of rape and supplying cannabis. On Thursday (March 17) he was jailed for two years.
The court heard that the girl was having problems at home when she met Robinson, then 19, in the park. He befriended her and the group she was with and invited them back to a flat in Manchester, which he had essentially moved into in Autumn 2019.
The flat operated as a free house for the children in that it gave them a space to congregate away from parental eyes and to drink alcohol, prosecutor Jon Close said. The victim drank vodka that was provided by the defendant and was attending the address 2-3 times per week initially with her other friends, but then, at his invitation, she began to visit alone again 2-3 times per week.
Robinson continued providing her with alcohol to the extent that she needed a period of hours to sober up before she went home due to her being in a heavy state of intoxication. By virtue of the jurys verdict, Robinson intended to commit a sexual offence.
During the trial, jurors heard evidence of a friend finding the girl intoxicated or having consumed cannabis, in Robinsons company and in a state of undress. In a victim personal statement, the girl said that her life had been ruined and everything had been taken from her'. She said she was shaken up and said that her childhood had been taken away from her.
Robinson was said to have no previous convictions. Mitigating, Mark Fireman said that although his client was 19, he was a young 19 and had problems of his own. He perhaps wasnt behaving in a manner a 19-year-old would behave, he said.
He was diagnosed with ADHD, and is somebody with particular difficulties. He chose to spend lots of his time with people younger than himself. Mr Fireman added that his client started drinking alcohol and was perhaps not used to it.
Sentencing, Recorder Michael Hayton QC said: You chose to associate with them, on the conviction of the jury, for the purpose that it was for some sexual gratification of some sort in the future. Whatever rights and wrongs, your behaviour had an enormous impact on a young girl.
It is very clear she will be scarred by your actions for many years to come, perhaps throughout her life. What you were doing with these young girls was attempting to engage in sexual gratification in the future.
Having heard your evidence, it is quite clear you are capable of manipulating the facts and circumstances. You suggested you were offering friendship and care to those who came to the flat in their early teens, who were plied with drink by you. I feel I am not able to do anything other than impose a sentence of immediate imprisonment.
Robinson, of Haddon Green, was jailed for two years, made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years, and must sign onto the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.