(Image: North Yorkshire Police)
A sexual predator who groomed a vulnerable teenage girl, sent deeply sexualised messages to her, and encouraged her to meet up with him in a hotel has been jailed for 51 months.
Sentencing 63-year-old Phillip Smith at Bradford Crown Court, His Honour Judge Jonathan Carroll said he had sought to ‘victim blame’ the girl involved and told him: “I absolutely reject the idea that this was not sexually motivated behaviour.
“Almost from the off you engaged in predatory grooming sexualised behaviour.”
He added: “There can be no doubt what you had in mind.
“You have no effective remorse other than self-pity, [and] little or no insight into your offending.
“There is not a hint of insight or desire to change.”
The court heard that Smith, of Gilbert Scott Court, Towcester, West Northamptonshire, met the girl when she was 15 at Bolton Abbey and in Skipton.
His behaviour included placing his hand on her thigh, calling her ‘baby’ and ‘beautiful’, and sending money to her bank account.
Messages to the teenager became ‘overtly sexual’ and in them he encouraged her to be sexually active and discussed sexual acts.
He also suggested they should spend the weekend together and solicited explicit pictures of her.
The police were informed and Smith was arrested in March 2024.
He claimed that the victim had spoken to him about sexual matters and that he had given her advice.
In a statement read to the court on her behalf, Smith’s victim said she had been exploited by him and that the damage he had caused was ‘irreversible’.
In mitigation, the court heard that Smith had no previous convictions and that there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case.
His offending was described as incitement rather than actual sexual activity and that he did not present a high risk of reoffending and harm.
Judge Carroll said Smith had been ‘love bombing’ the girl and, after being arrested, took part in ‘shocking victim blaming’.
He said: “Somehow in your disturbed mind this is all [the victim’s] fault.”
As well as the 51-month prison sentence Smith will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order and an indefinite restraining order banning any contact with the victim.