AN AUTO electrician has been locked up for six months after he had sex with a teenage girl.

Preston Crown Court heard Timothy Willis, 20, was 18 when he started the relationship with the youngster, who had just turned 14.

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The girl’s mum, who can not be identified for legal reasons, tried to restrict the relationship between the couple but when the schoolgirl was alone at home she contacted Willis and they had sex in her bedroom.

The court heard the pair met on social media and started chatting but when they realised Willis lived near the girl’s grandma’s house they arranged to meet up.

They dated for a few months but broke up due to the girl’s mum imposing strict rules on them.

But in November 2014 they were back in touch and had sex twice.

Judge Stuart Baker, sentencing, said he understood Willis was going through a difficult time after his parent’s divorce and was struggling socially when he committed the offences.

But he said: “The offences were committed with a girl who was 14. She was 13 when you met her over the internet.

“However young and emotionally immature you may have been, she was still a child, not legally permitted to make decisions for herself and certainly not of an age where she could give consent to having sexual intercourse.”

The offences came to light when the youngster worried she may be pregnant and asked a school counsellor for the morning after pill.

The court heard she felt ‘used’ after the experience and had to undergo medical tests and police interviews.

Judge Baker said: “Her victim impact statement makes depressing reading. For a 14 or 15-year-old to experience the degree of upset that is described by her in her situation is a matter of real concern.

“You knew exactly how old she was and you knew her mum had expressed concern about the disparity in age between you and her.

“None the less you went on to commit the offence and having committed it went on to repeat it.”

Willis, of Hermitage Street, Rishton, has been sentenced to six months in a young offenders institute and will be on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

He has also been made the subject of a five year sexual harm prevention order.