A TEENAGE Huddersfield schoolgirl was "groomed" for sex by a 39-year-old man, a court was told.

And David Lyness pursued the girl through internet chatrooms before finally having sex with her, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Lyness, of Shakespeare Grove, Burmantofts, Leeds, was jailed for 30 months yesterday.

He pleaded guilty to sexual offences against the girl, who was 14 at the time.

The court heard Lyness told the girl his age and the fact he had children when they first met on the internet.

Their first face to face meeting was at a park in Huddersfield. Nothing untoward happened and the pair continued to chat over the internet.

Mr Philip Adams, prosecuting, said Lyness asked the girl if she wanted to lose her virginity and she said every girl did.

They met again and Lyness drove her to his flat in Leeds where they had sex.

The girl later admitted to her mother what she had done and the police were called in.

Mr Adams said the girl thought Lyness was "nice" .

The pair had sex three times in his flat and she said he was considerate in the way he treated her.

Mr John Batchelor, for Lyness, said he had not been looking for the computer contact with the girl.

His daughter had accessed the site and he had then got the girl's email address and phone numbers.

He accepted the seriousness of his position and that a jail sentence would cost him his job.

Judge Alistair McCallum said there had to be a jail sentence to deter others.

And he added using the internet for sexual grooming was becoming a prevalent and serious offence.