Ben Green 34

Description

A sleazy sex offender sent a 15-year-old girl a suggestive picture of himself relaxing in the bath - with bubbles covering up his private parts in a brazen bid to tempt her.

Manipulative and devious Ben Green hoped that the girl would be sufficiently interested in seeing even more of him that she would ask for him to wash away more and more of the bubbles in later pictures. He also made it very clear to the teenager that there was an intimate picture of him that she could access if she wanted, Hull Crown Court heard.

Green, 32, of Eleanor Avenue, Bridlington, admitted sexual communication with a child between May 1 and July 29, 2020. Andrew Stranex, prosecuting, said that the 15-year-old girl was a friend of a female that Green knew. Visits were made over a significant period of time.

Problems later arose between the two females. Green began communicating with the girl on social media and it "strayed into sexualised chat" over a lengthy period.

"He began to speak to her in a more sexualised way towards her," said Mr Stranex. Green sent the girl a picture of him in a bath, with his private parts covered by bubble bath - she was invited to say whether he should show more of himself.

He also made it clear that an intimate naked picture of him was available for her to view on a site where he knew that she could see if she wanted. "He knew that she was able to access it," said Mr Stranex.

Matters came to light in July 2020 when the girl was with her aunt and became upset. The teenager told her aunt what had happened.

Green was trapped when text messages pretending to be from the girl were sent to him. They confirmed the sort of conversations that he was willing to engage in with the girl and that he was interested in young people and in developing a relationship with someone young.

Green had no previous convictions. No mitigation was requested for him after the judge indicated the sentence that he had in mind.

Recorder Anthony Hawks told Green: "You are not, in my judgement, a man of good character because men of good character do not involve themselves in sexual communications with young girls. You chose to engage in sexualised conversations with her, making available pictures of you.

"What you think you were doing in what you were sending that 15-year-old girl is beyond imagination, other than it shows you have a sexual interest in young girls. Recorder Hawks said that, if Green were jailed, it would be for a short period of time and "it would achieve nothing".

He said that his role was to impose a sentence that would "ensure that this sort of behaviour never happens again". Green was given 30 days' rehabilitation and a probation service sex offenders' programme.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years. Recorder Hawks warned Green that he faced being jailed if he committed further offences or did not cooperate with the requirements of the order.