A TEENAGE boy who ‘groomed’ young girls for sexual contact has avoided being locked up.

Daniel Scully got to know his victims – some as young as 12 years old – through the instant messaging website MSN, when he was 17 years old.

As a Btec student, Scully, now aged 18, helped out in school PE lessons. He talked to one 12-year-old through the site and arranged to visit her while she was at the house of another member of her family.

Worcester Magistrates Court was told that it was while her friend slept that Scully touched the girl intimately, despite her saying no and protesting that he was hurting her.

Liam Finch, prosecuting, said that the girl had not experienced any previous sexual encounters.

Scully’s second victim, who was 13 at the time, told police she was “in love” with Scully. They chatted on MSN and arranged to meet in a Malvern park where Scully intimately touched her for more than half-an-hour. She later said she had been worried he would try and have sex with her.

The third victim, who was 12 at the time regularly communicated with Scully on MSN. They met in a park where they kissed and he put his hand down her trousers – only stopping when they were disturbed by a passer-by.

Mr Finch said: “She felt upset about what had happened and had never been in a sexual encounter.”

The court was told Scully, previously of good character, was now in a relationship with another underage girl.

He admitted two serious sexual assaults on a girl under 13 in April last year, and a third charge of indecently assaulting a girl aged between 13 and 15 in July last year.

Mark Lister, in mitigation, said Scully had co-operated with police. He said the lessons in which Scully helped out were always supervised by a teacher.

He said Scully, of Chester Place, Malvern, would be “keeping away” from his current girlfriend until she reached the age of 16.

Deputy district judge Peter Veits said the case was “unusual” and involved Scully “grooming” the girls. However he said Scully’s age and previous good character meant he would be spared detention.

He was sentenced to a total of six months’ custody suspended for two years, and given a two-year supervision requirement.

He was given a five-year sexual offences prevention order, prohibiting him for having any unsupervised contact with a female under the age of 16, undertaking any paid, voluntary or recreational work that would bring him into contact with a girl under the age of 16, and also using the internet on any computer, except one which has a fully operational internet offering prevention and detection software fitted by police.

After being sentenced, Scully burst into floods of tears and had to be comforted by his mother Elaine Scully, who herself was spared jail in May 2009 after she admitted using her position as a bank worker to steal more than £130,000 from Barclays in Malvern.

Your Worcester News was the only member of the media to attend the hearing.