June 2011

Paedophile jailed for grooming girls

A PERVERT has been jailed after grooming three girls on the internet before having sex with them.

Bernard Volk, 21, of Queens Road, was sent to prison for six years on Monday following a court hearing at Hove Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to 17 offences in total, eight of sexual activity with the girls, aged 14 and 15, one of having penetrative sex, one count of downloading an indecent image of a child and seven of making indecent images of children. Twelve other sex offences will be left to lie on file.

Volk committed his crimes in Shoreham, Seaford and Eastbourne, where he formerly lived.

He used social networking sites including facebook to befriend and groom vulnerable, young girls before arranging to meet up and then engaging in sexual activity with them. The images were found on Volk’s computers.

The crimes happened between June 2009 and March last year.

Volk was arrested and charged in January.

Detective Inspector Paul Phelps said: “Volk is a predatory paedophile and he has received a substantial sentence, which reflects the serious nature of his offences.

“He prayed on vulnerable young girls and used his considerable knowledge of computers to do this.

“This was a complex and thorough investigation by Sussex Police and we would like to praise the victims for their bravery in coming forward.”