Man found in hotel bed with schoolgirl he met on Snapchat

Police found a person in a hotel bed with a 15-year-outmoded woman he had met on a messaging app, a court docket has heard. The teen had travelled extra than 150 miles from her residence to spend time with the defendant.

Swansea Crown Court heard the woman had initially told the defendant that she used to be 16 and had even pretended to be her mother in textual content conversations with him – nonetheless had published her proper age days ahead of the deliberate outing to Wales. The defendant’s barrister said the teenage woman had deceived his 24-year-outmoded consumer, and he described the case as “unique”.

Robin Rouch, prosecuting, said Jack Bendle and the woman met on Snapchat in October 2023 and an “online relationship developed between them”. He said the woman lied to the defendant that she used to be 16 and the defendant believed what he used to be told. The prosecutor said in a few of the exchanges the woman pretended to be her mother and that during these exchanges Bendle talked about his relationship with her “daughter” and they mentioned the risk of him travelling to focus on with them every.

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The court docket heard that on October 30 the woman told her mother she used to be going to focus on with mates in Wales and caught a train to Swansea where she met the defendant and accompanied him to the Premier Inn at the backside of Wind Avenue. The court docket heard that after a few days the teen’s mother realised her daughter used to be no longer in fact staying with mates and she reported the miniature one as missing. Enquiries by police led officers to the Premier Inn in Swansea and at 2am officers found Bendle in bed with the teen in their hotel room. When officers examined the defendant’s phone they found two pictures which confirmed the defendant holding the topless teen’s breasts. The court docket heard that in his subsequent interviews Bendle “remained silent”.

Jack Bendle, of Neath Facet road, Briton Ferry, had previously pleaded responsible to sexual train with a bit one – touching the teen’s breasts – and possession of indecent photos when he seemed in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions. For the latest court docket stories check in to our crime e-newsletter here.

Hywel Davies, for Bendle, said the defendant believed he used to be in a “legitimate relationship” with someone who used to be 16, a relationship which he belief had been sanctioned by the woman’s fogeys. He said the woman had deceived his consumer about her age till true a few days ahead of the deliberate outing nevertheless it used to be permitted that once he realized the fact Bendle had no longer cancelled the deliberate focus on with. The barrister said his consumer acted as a carer for his father, and said the defendant had worked as a bricklayer for seven years and “gained some level of respect” in the trade. The barrister said it used to be permitted the offending crossed the custody threshold nonetheless he said it used to be a “unique case” and given the defendant’s lack of previous convictions, his genuine remorse, and the contents of he pre-sentence legend he would invite the court docket to suspend the sentence that used to be due.

Recorder Aidan Eardley KC said the defendant had been told the woman used to be 16 and that her fogeys had agreed to the focus on with to Swansea, and he had believed these things. He said after finding out the sparkling age of the woman Bendle had gone on to book a train price and a hotel room. The recorder said it used to be certain from the pre-sentence legend that Bendle used to be isolated, “entirely sexually inexperienced” and “sexually preoccupied”.

With a one-quarter bargain for his responsible pleas the defendant used to be sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for 2 years and used to be ordered to total a rehabilitation route and finish 100 hours of unpaid work in the neighborhood. Bendle will more than likely be a registered intercourse wrongdoer for the next 10 years. The recorder declined to construct the defendant the field of a sexual hurt prevention present saying the check of necessity had no longer been made out by the prosecution.

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