November 2010

No jail for married man who sent sex texts to girl, 14

A MARRIED man convicted of sending a 14-year-old girl explicit texts and emails has avoided a jail sentence.

James Yeulet, aged 27, of Beaumont Road, St Judes, was convicted by a jury in August of meeting a child after sexual grooming but appeared before Mr Recorder Alun Jenkins QC at Plymouth Crown Court to be told he would not face prison.

At trial the court heard they became friends on Facebook but in February 2009 their relationship became sexual and the father of one, then 25, exchanged sordid texts and photos with her. In one text Yeulet asked for topless photos; another asked her “Why should I risk prison?”

At about 1.20am on February 17 Yeulet visited her at a house where she was babysitting alone. Yeulet claimed he wanted to cool their relationship; the girl said they had sex on the sofa, and the jury could not agree on which account to believe.

Yeulet later sent her texts begging her to stay silent as he feared he would lose his wife and access to his son.

Mr Recorder Jenkins acknowledged the relationship was consensual and a charge of having sex with a girl under 16 was left to lie on the file.

Yeulet had lost his job, been made bankrupt, was estranged from his wife and been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register; the girl showed ‘flirtatious behaviour that got totally out of control’, and Yeulet was ‘flattered’, he said, but the law expected a ‘higher standard of responsibility’ from a man his age.

The judge sentenced him to 12 months, suspended for two years, with a two- year supervision order.

He said Yeulet would not be able to pay court costs and placed him on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years.