Description
A convicted sex offender who had sex with a teenage girl in a West Yorkshire field has been jailed.
Ryan Laing, 27, a fairground worker, messaged the girl on Snapchat before the incident in September last year, Leeds Crown Court heard on Monday.
During one of their walks, they settled in a field where Laing began "nudging" her. The pair "started play fighting" before he "slept" with her. The girl was "adamant it was consensual" and Laing "stopped when she told him to stop."
Her mother discovered the messages and contacted police. In his interview, Laing claimed the allegations were "false" and motivated by her family's knowledge that he was a registered sex offender.
Laing had previously sexually assaulted another teenager at age 22, leading to his placement on the Sex Offenders' Register, which he later breached.
He pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child. In mitigation, Anastasis Tasou said: "Anything I am about to say is not designed in any way to minimise the seriousness of the offence caused to the victim and those associated with her.
"This is clearly an event which could only end up with a custodial sentence. He was living an isolated life. He was living alone in a trailer. He drank alcohol and would regularly drink himself into a stupor - in his words - and would do stupid things in drink. He lost his grandmother, with whom he tells me he was particularly close...
"Since he has been in custody, he tells me he has obtained a job and has been working and has signed up for education.
"He never entered mainstream education in any way and that would have had a consequential effect on any association he had in any peer group and sexual experience is also highlighted, notwithstanding his previous convictions, he is rather someone who found himself in a certain set of circumstances and used that as an opportunity."
His Honour Judge Menary jailed Laing for four-and-a-half years, requiring him to serve up to half in custody before release on licence.