Locations
Austrey Grove, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29
Description
A Snapchat groomer who used the social media app to abduct a vulnerable schoolgirl has been jailed.
Brandon Mason, 19, admitted child abduction and making 55 indecent images of his victim.
A judge said he "groomed" the girl to send him sexualised images and encouraged her to run away from her home in Flintshire, north Wales.
Mason, of Austrey Grove, Birmingham, was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
On Tuesday, Caernarfon Crown Court heard Mason made contact with the pre-teen schoolgirl - who cannot be named - over the popular smartphone app Snapchat.
After convincing her to meet him, they both caught a train and made a 100-mile trip together from north Wales to Birmingham. They were found when police stopped a bus in the English city in September 2022.
Patrick Williamson, defending, said Mason had no previous convictions, but did have a "sad and depressing" history involving mental health issues.
Judge Nicola Saffman told Mason: "You got into her head so much, she being an extremely vulnerable child. You manipulated her."
She said it had taken many months to start to repair the damage done to the girl. The victim was "enthralled" by Mason, the judge said, and didn't disclose to police everything which occurred.
The judge said Mason incited the victim to take indecent images and had even encouraged her to harm herself.
Mason was handed restraining and sexual harm prevention orders, which will last indefinitely.