A virgin dustman from Bedford sent explicit text messages to an underage girl only a month after he had been cautioned for pestering another teenager.
Bradley Mann never met the 15-year-old victim from Northampton, but got hold of her number when she lent her mobile to a friend who had wanted to text him.
Northampton Crown Court heard on Tuesday how Mann had bombarded the girl with calls and sexually explicit texts.
Stuart Yeung, prosecuting, said: “She did not encourage the defendant but he began to ask for group sex. She was able to block the defendant from sending texts, but could not stop the telephone calls which she rejected.”
Mann from Humber Avenue, Bedford, was caught after calling the girl 53 times on July 13 2008. She was at a family party and told her mother, who called the police.
When questioned Mann said he knew what he had done was wrong, but said he was a virgin and just wanted to have sex.
He admitted inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.
The judge was told he had been cautioned by police in Bedfordshire for similar messages to a 17-year-old girl in June 2008. He had turned up at her gym and at the supermarket where she worked.
Maria Karaiskos, defending Mann, told the court: “Emotionally and socially he is a child himself.”
Mann received a community order with three years’ supervision and must attend a sex offenders’ group work programme.
He was also given a three-month curfew and must sign the sex offenders’ register.
Judge Charles Wide said: “The risk that you pose can be minimised by you doing this course, but you must be punished in my judgement and I can do this by imposing a curfew.”
