Jordan Wilkinson 32

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A football lout described as being an ‘out-of-control sex pest’ groped a teenage girl and assaulted another woman after watching an England match.

Jordan Wilkinson, 31, later also allowed street dealers to use his home to store more than £35,000 worth of Class A drugs. The dad-of-one has been jailed and placed on the sex offenders register after making the ‘very bad choices’.

Preston Crown Court heard how Wilkinson, of Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, had joined friends at Central Pier to watch the Euro 2020 England vs Croatia match on June 13, 2021.

After downing numerous pints of lager, Wilkinson grabbed a 16-year-old girl by the crotch and groped another woman's bottom, reports Lancs Live.

When questioned about the offences, Wilkinson claimed he did not remember doing it but was appalled at his loutish behaviour.

The court also heard how in February last year, officers discovered heroin and crack in a box in his home. Julie Taylor, defending, said at the time he was struggling after a relationship break-up had left him in sole charge of his son.

Wilkinson’s defence said he had to give up work and had fallen into debt with cannabis dealers, so agreed to look after the box for £200 a week. He claimed he never looked inside and did not know what was in it, however he knew drugs were illegal.

Following his arrest, Wilkinson had worked with social services to try and turn his life around.

However, Judge Guy Mathieson, sentencing, said: "A lot of life is about choices, good and bad. It is a good idea to go out and watch the England game with your mates and have a few beers.

"It is a bad choice to get so out of it that you thought being an out-of-control sex pest was hilarious. The problem with bad choices is that they catch up with you eventually.

"There are two victims and there is some real impact, certainly with the younger girl, as to how she now deals with people. That seems to me to make it cross the custody threshold. So that is one choice. Then, things go badly wrong in 2021/22. I'm afraid I have heard this story so many times it is like a broken record. Things get difficult in lockdown, problems occur, so you take the choice to continue to use cannabis, which you know is illegal.

"What a surprise that when your drug dealer mates, who supply you with the cannabis, when you can't pay for it they aren't your mates at all? And what a surprise that they use you to store a really significant amount of drugs? A large amount - worth £37,000 on the street, spreading misery. And you get what for it? £200? £300?

"You said, 'it was a choice to get back on my feet'. Bad choice. They catch up with you.

"Drug dealers need people like you because they don't want to get caught with drugs on them. People like you who think, 'this is easy money because let's face it, the chances of getting caught are slim, so let's take the choice'. With your young son in the house."

The judge accepted Wilkinson had taken steps to change his life, but said: "You have still made these choices, and they have caught up with you today. This combination of offences, particularly the drug dealing, is so serious it has to be an immediate prison sentence."

He jailed Wilkinson, of Whitegate Drive, for 18 months for two counts of possession of class A drugs with a six month and three month sentence to run concurrently for each count of sexual assault. He also made him the subject of notification requirements (the sex offenders register) for seven years.

"You can't be seen to get away with it", he said. "That is why you have to go to prison."