A man has been jailed for 40 months after a court heard he had sex with a schoolgirl after getting to know her through Facebook.

Daniel Kavanagh was 20 at the time he began contact with the 15-year-old and eventually met her in August last year after they had swapped phone numbers.

Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday they returned to his flat in Riddings Close, Sheepridge, where the girl stayed that night.

She said later Kavanagh had started hugging and kissing her and eventually they had unprotected sex after he told her he loved her.

She said she had mixed feelings about what was happening but had done nothing positive to stop him. They had sex again the following morning before spending the day in Bradford.

Miss Stuart-Lofthouse said the girl was worried about the reaction to going home and stayed a second night with Kavanagh at his flat and again they had unprotected sex.

The following day they visited Halifax where she was seen by police and taken home. But she subsequently returned again to Kavanagh’s address and he took her to a friend’s home although there was no further sexual contact between them.

When he was asked by police why he had continued having sex when he knew she was only 15 he said “what was done was done and he couldn’t get into any more trouble,” said Miss Stuart-Lofthouse.

John Batchelor, representing Kavanagh, said he was someone with his own problems suffering Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and being a self-harmer.

He was immature and had “fancied” the girl and got on well with her, maintaining at the start he had not known she was only 15.

Sentencing Kavanagh, now 21, who admitted sexual activity with a child, Judge Christopher Batty said he did not accept Kavanagh had not known the age of the girl when he met her because it was clear from her Facebook page.

He said a 15-year-old was a child.

“Children are not mature enough to make sensible decisions about their lives that is why the law protects them.

“You had sex with her you, didn’t use a condom. Why? Because you didn’t like them. That’s appalling.

“With your history you could have passed anything on to her and more importantly you could have impregnated her.”

He said Kavanagh’s previous offending involved a common assault where he grabbed a female neighbour by the throat when she did not do as he wanted and a bodily harm assault when he was part of a group who assaulted a girl he had previously had a relationship with in a revenge attack for something he perceived she had done.

He also indicated Kavanagh had trawled through Facebook in the past looking “to make contacts with women to have sexual relationships with.”

All of this suggested he had “a worrying and troubling attitude towards women.”