He was a top showjumper competing across Europe.
But now Carl Heywood is behind bars labelled a “sexual predator” by a judge.
The pervert from Golcar flirted with young girls at a riding school and persuaded one of them to send him sexual photos.
Now Heywood has been jailed for five years after a judge described him as a “sexual predator” seeking young girls through his work.
Leeds Crown Court heard Heywood flirted with pupils on Facebook before eventually grooming one schoolgirl until she sent him sexual images of herself.
He would begin by paying personal compliments via the social network to young clients at the Huddersfield riding school, telling one she was “cute” and calling another “a little charmer”.
Jailing the 38-year-old, Judge Guy Kearl QC said in all he contacted five girls aged around 15 in 2013 saying they were sexy and pretty, sending some of them photos of his torso.
He asked one girl if she wanted to see more of him but she declined. His criminal offences began when his messages to one of the girls became more explicit.
He sent her sexual pictures of himself and of adults having sex and then talked her into taking pictures of her sexually abusing herself with objects.
“These were photographs by her and sent to you at your instigations on Facebook, you praised her when she did. She sent something like 30 photos.”
The judge said Heywood told the girl in messages how he wanted to have sex with her and twice touched her when she went for lessons, once on her buttocks over her clothing and on another he kissed her.
“You knew perfectly well what her age was and you lied about your own age.”
She was vulnerable and began to feel abused after looking on Childline and told him to stop messaging but within a few days he began again.
It was only when she found out his true age, 10 years older than he had told her, she confided in a friend and the truth eventually came out.
By then he had sent the 15-year-old 2000 Facebook messages in three weeks.
Judge Kearl told Heywood his behaviour had a devastating psychological impact on his young victim who had suffered nightmares and flashbacks since about what he had made her do.
“This was a course of conduct against a series of girls when you were acting in my judgment as a sexual predator seeking to find one who would comply with your desires.”
Heywood, 38, of Marina Terrace, Golcar, Huddersfield, admitted nine charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one of causing a child to watch a sexual act and two of sexual activity to a child.
Kama Melly prosecuting said Heywood had got a number of girls to put him on their Facebook after giving them riding lessons including the complainant.
She was vulnerable at the time and he told her she was pretty and “had a nice body.” He sent her naked photos of himself, initially she said she was 15 and did not feel comfortable seeing that.
He had told her he was 27 and when he later mentioned his true age she was shocked. She told a friend who confided in adult and his offending came to light.
Adam Birkby representing Heywood said he accepted full responsibility for his wrong doing and wanted to publicly apologise to everyone involved.
“He was a semi-professional showjumper travelling throughout Europe during his career but that ended in 2013 when he suffered a nasty injury to his leg.”
Faced with that loss he was at a low ebb and began to drink heavily and he started flirting with his pupils not specifically targeting the complainant but then became obsessed with what he was doing.
“The detached nature of the internet means that often people act in a way they would not normally do and ask people to do things they wouldn’t do on a face to face basis.”
