Locations
Foundation Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4
Description
A ‘callous and devious’ child abduction and sexual offences. from Ipswich who groomed and exploited a teenage girl has been jailed.
Jay Anderton, 20 of Foundation Street, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court yesterday (December 7) for sentencing.
At an earlier hearing, Anderton was convicted after pleading guilty to two counts of child abduction and two counts of sexual activity with a child.
The court heard how he had been grooming, manipulating and coercing a teenage girl into sexual activity since May 2023.
However, the victim being reported as missing on June 27 sent alarms ringing.
A search of the town’s waterfront resulted in officers finding Anderton – with his victim nearby.
Following the incident, Anderton was arrested and charged.
At his sentencing yesterday, Anderton was jailed for 46 months.
In addition, he was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the sex offender register for life.
DC Lauren Patterson, from the Safeguarding Investigation Unit, said: “Anderton was someone who callously and deviously manipulated a vulnerable teenage victim and exploited this vulnerability for his personal, perverted desires.
“This job involved some great team working with the Child Exploitation and Gangs Team, working alongside the Safeguarding Investigations Unit in order to achieve this result and to ultimately safeguard other vulnerable children within the community. My thanks go to all my colleagues involved in securing this conviction.”