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A MIDDLE-AGED father has been jailed for having sex with a 15-year-old schoolgirl in a lay-by after picking her up from her school during her lunch break.
Gary Sparkes befriended the teenager after persuading her parents to let her come with him to show him the way around country roads near Cullompton while on a business trip in the area.
He won her trust by exchanging a stream of text messages before having sex with her in his car in the layby and at his home in Exmouth, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Father-of-two Sparkes, 49, of Tennyson Way, Exmouth, admitted four offences of sexual activity with a child and was jailed for two years by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC.
The judge told him: ”You had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was the daughter of a family who were friends of yours. She was young enough to be your daughter.
“You had sex with her at your house and in addition you drove to Cullompton to have sex with her in the back of your car during a school lunch break.”
Sean Brunton, prosecuting, said the offences came to light when the victim’s older sister found suspicious messages on her Facebook page and her parents went to the police.
The girl was interviewed and said she and Sparkes had sex four times during a three month relationship, including once in the back of his car in a layby.
Mr Brunton said: ”She said the relationship started on Facebook and they arranged to meet to have sex. At one time she thought she might be pregnant but this was not the case.
“Her father recalled getting a text message from Sparkes asking to take his daughter out in his car as navigator as he was working in Mid Devon.”
Sparkes sent the girl 95 text messages and she sent him 125 and the Facebook conversations covered 500 pages.
Rupert Taylor, defending, said Sparkes is lucky in that his wife and two grown up children are standing behind him. He said he deserves credit for accepting he had done wrong and sparing the victim the need to go to court.
He said: ”At the time this happened he was depressed and on medication and was very grateful for the company. They became close friends and she told him she was attracted to him. He knows as an adult he should not have done this.”