Man jailed for grooming and assaulting girl

A man who lured a schoolgirl to his flat by promising her vapes and alcohol before indecently assaulting her has been jailed for two years and 10 months.

Thomas Hall, 31, messaged the 15-year-old on Snapchat for a week under a different name before inviting her to his flat to pick up the items on 7 March.

Douglas Courthouse heard Hall had locked the door after letting her in before assaulting her.

Deemster Graeme Cook said the victim "must have been terrified" and would have been "traumatised" when she left the building.

The court heard, although the girl arrived with a friend who had been given vapes by him in the past, Hall would only let the victim into his flat.

She reported the assault to the police and he was later arrested.

The court heard the 31-year-old was on bail at the time of the assault for separate charges of possessing indecent images of children, after 57 pictures were found on devices he owned in January the previous year.

While Hall initially denied meeting the girl, he later pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of a child, gross indecency with a child, grooming, and five counts possessing indecent images of children.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl said she was now "extremely suspicious" of men over the age of 30 and the assault had meant she had to grow up quicker than others her age.

The court heard hall had previous conviction for relevant offences, which Deemster Cook said had shown an "escalation in offending behaviour".

Jailing Hall, the deemster said he had caused "devastation" to the victim, who had done "absolutely nothing wrong".

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