AN ALCESTER man who had sex in his car with a girl he knew was only 12 has been jailed for eight months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court.

Richard King, aged 25, of St Nicholas Close, Alcester, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years after he had pleaded guilty to two charges of having unlawful intercourse.

Prosecutor Neil Bannister said King had entered his pleas on the basis that the first time he had sex with the girl he did not know her age, but that they did have sex twice more after he was told she was only 12.

Matters came to light in October last year when the girl's mother contacted the police, after which officers spoke to the girl who said King had driven her to isolated spots where they had intercourse.

And when King was then arrested he agreed he had taken the girl out in his car and then parked and smoked cannabis before they kissed and had sex.

He told the police that on the first occasion he did not know she was only 12, and that the girl had been 'very forthcoming' and the intercourse was mutual.

King, who had some cannabis on him when he was arrested, said a friend told him her age but he took her out in his car and had sex with her on two further occasions.

Kate Thomas, defending, said: "He is fully aware he is facing a custodial sentence."

She said King, whose disabled father and young sister depend on him, is an emotionally immature young man who suffers from depression and was going through a very difficult period at the time of the offences.

Miss Thomas, who described the girl as 'quite a precocious little lady,' said she was in the company of King's drug supplier, who is in her 20s, when he first met her.

She added that King has now got a job as a kitchen porter and is attending drug counselling.

Jailing King, Judge James Pyke told him: "You formed a relationship with her, despite the disparity in your ages, and after you had learned her true age you continued in a sexual relationship.

"This child was only 12 years of age and you knew that. It is the duty of the court to protect children from the kind of premature sexual experience to which you subjected her. Only a custodial sentence can be justified."