David Lyndon Cole, a homeless migrant has been jailed for more than three years after travelling over 100 miles to sexually assault a 14-year-old girl he groomed online.
According to Daily Express UK, Sierra Leone-born David Lyndon Cole, 22, talked to the young victim on social media before persuading to meet him for sex.
He then travelled 116 miles from where he was sleeping rough in London to Evesham, Worcestershire, where he sexually assaulted the teenager.
Cole pleaded guilty to two sexual assaults and one count of meeting a child after grooming and was jailed for 45 months at Worcester Crown Court on January 16.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order restricting him from using the internet and engaging with anyone under the age of 16 for five years.
The court heard Cole arrived in the UK from Sierra Leone in 2011 to be with his mother but their relationship deteriorated and he was left homeless.
He groomed the girl after meeting her online and began sharing thousands of “extremely graphic” sexual texts with the victim.
After meeting the girl at her home last August, one of her friends tried to take a picture of him but he became violent.
Prosecutor Daniel White said: “He snatched the camera away for the obvious reason that he was too old to be with a girl that age.”
Cole spent the night at the girl’s home when her mother was away and they had unprotected s*x on August 20.
The court heard the girl feared she could be pregnant but a test came back negative.
The next day Cole returned to London with the girl and they slept rough for two nights, including one at Paddington railway station.
They travelled back to Evesham on August 29 where they had sex again. Cole was arrested the next day.
In a statement made to police, the girl said she was “devastated” Cole had lied about his age and said she believed he was just 16.
Judge Nicholas Cartwright said Cole could be deported back to Sierra Leone after his sentence.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Sergeant Jim Hopkins from West Mercia Police, said: “A team of designated detectives in the CSE team worked very closely with the victim and her family to ensure they received all of the support their required throughout the investigation.
“This process has undoubtedly been traumatic for the young girl and I would like to take this opportunity to commend the courage she has shown and thank her for her support for this investigation.
“We are committed to protecting children from harm and there is a host of advice and information available to parents, carers and children about how to keep themselves safe online on the CSE page on our website.
“I urge everyone to take heed of this advice for themselves and their families.
“West Mercia Police and our partner agencies provide specialist support to those affected by child sexual exploitation and will continue to robustly target those who prey on the most vulnerable in our communities.”
