Pervert lured young girls on Facebook (From Worcester News)

Pervert lured young girls on Facebook

9:45am Thursday 4th October 2012 in News

FACEBOOK PERVERT: Jeremy Pond

A WORCESTER man was today starting a five-year jail sentence for sexually assaulting young girls he met on Facebook.

Jeremy Pond pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court to 14 charges of sex offences against seven girls.

The 24-year-old was sent to immediate custody for five years, less 146 days already spent on remand, but was told that he will be subject to another four years supervision on licence once he is released.

Judge Patrick Thomas QC also ordered his computers to be destroyed and banned him from contact with children through the internet.

Police would be able to monitor any use of the internet and he was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Officers began an investigation in September last year when they were alerted by another Facebook user about chat on Pond’s site, said Alex Warren, prosecuting.

Pond, of Winchcombe Drive, Blackpole, was arrested in October on suspicion of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. His first victim was a girl who had just turned 16 but it was discovered they had engaged in sexual chat leading to intercourse when she was only 15.

Pond had also groomed another 15-year-old through sexual messages and sexual activity took place in her home when her parents were in another room.

Another contact made through Facebook was a 14-year-old girl he took to his home and admitted assaulting when she refused other advances.

Pond incited another 14-year-old to get involved in pornography by sending naked pictures of herself.

When he went to the home of another 14-year-old, he admitted inciting her to engage in sexual activity with another girl. He also sent sexual messages to another 14-year-old on Facebook.

Mr Warren said Pond told a 12-year-old he was “sex mad” before asking her to engage in sexual activity by sending him “dirty pictures” of herself.

He also admitted making indecent images of children and 28 found on his computer.

Barry Newton, defending, said Pond was of previous good character. He was sexually active and had fathered two children at a very young age. He had no hobbies and had an adolescent approach to sex.

Judge Thomas accepted that Pond had real difficulties in life but he had been attracted to under-aged girls partly because he himself was not mature.

The concern was not punishment but controlling his behaviour in future. He would need constant supervision by the probation service on his release.

Detective Constable Zoey Carter, who led the police investigation, said she was satisfied with Pond’s sentence including the nine years he must spend on licence, once released, and provision to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

She commended “the bravery and strength of the young victims” throughout, adding that police would pursue allegations of sex crimes “no matter how long ago they happened”.