A PERVERT who groomed a 12-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her after sending a barrage of text messages has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

David Gardner, of Crompton Avenue, Bidford, pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual assault.

The 40-year-old was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard said that after the girl’s father had bought her a mobile phone last year, Gardner gave her his number.

"He used it for a period of time to groom her towards sexual activity, messaging her many, many times."

In his texts Gardner talked as if he was of a similar age to the girl, talking in a childish way which appeared on the face of it to be innocent, but sending her kisses and hearts.

During one conversation she talked about having a day off school by pretending to be ill, and Gardner, who had children of his own, encouraged her to do so.

When the girl succeeded in wangling a day off, Gardner saw her and began hugging and tickling her in a way which made her realise things were not as innocent as she had thought.

Scared by what took place, and being bombarded by further texts, she later told her parents what happened and she continued to receive dozens of messages from Gardner who told her not to show them to anyone.

The girl’s father contacted him and told him 'in no uncertain terms' to stay away from her, before contacting the police.

After the confrontation with the girl’s father, Gardner had taken a number of pills and he was taken by ambulance to hospital where he was arrested.

But when he was questioned he claimed his messages and what happened when he saw the girl had been 'entirely innocent,' added Miss Orchard.

Jamie Strong, defending, said that Gardner, who was of previous good character, lives with his parents and plays an active role in the day-to-day care of his elderly father.

"He realises the greatest mitigation is his pleas of guilty. He is trying to address things through counselling which began ten days after he was arrested and interviewed.

"He realised there were issues which needed to be addressed and since then has attended 25 appointments, paid for by himself, dealing with his difficulties in boundary-setting.

"As far as the sexual element is concerned, it is very much at the lower end of the scale."

Arguing for a suspended sentence, Mr Strong said the best way to manage Gardner’s risk of offending was through intervention by way of one-to-one supervision.

But jailing Gardner, Judge Stephen Eyre QC told him: "You engaged in grooming of that girl by sending her persistent texts. You arranged for her to lie to get the day off school so you could spend the day with her.

"I take account of the fact that the actual activity was not the worst of its kind, and that you stopped when she made it plain she didn’t want it to continue, but there has to be an immediate custodial sentence."