A teenager who twice had sex with a schoolgirl knowing she was only 14 has been given a suspended sentence.
Leeds Crown Court heard Sam Hawley had met the girl on a couple of occasions before they were found in bed together in July in Batley after people went looking for her.
At that time he was 18 and he was given a warning about harbouring the girl if she was missing from home in the future. He was told to stay away from her.
In August the girl told her mother she was visiting a friend in Garforth in Leeds and then said she was staying the night there.
However when she did not return the next morning her family were concerned enough to contact the police and officers then saw Hawley and the girl together in Morley.
He told the police he had been trying to persuade her to go to the police herself but she had been reluctant in case she got him into trouble.
Graham Parkin representing Hawley said: “This is not an offence that could in any sense be described as predatory.”
He said Hawley was “relatively unworldly” and his maturity level was not his chronological age. He had genuinely liked the girl, who had chosen to visit him and he had tried to persuade her to go the police station on the second occasion they were together.
Hawley, now 19 of Grange Road, Batley admitted two offences of sexual activity with a child and was given a 12 month youth custody sentence suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Judge Neil Clark told him the offences were serious since he was aware of the girl’s age when he began a relationship with her and as the adult that she was not old enough to make such decisions and was vulnerable.
