A LAYABOUT who spent his life playing internet video games was jailed yesterday for grooming a schoolgirl on-line and meeting her for sex.

Sean Clode was branded a selfish, devious liar as he was locked for six years and put on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.

The 22-year-old was also banned from having unsupervised contact with under-16s and had restrictions put on his future use of the internet.

Dramatic new video footage from a police helicopter shows the moment he was found with a run-away 14-year-old in a tent on secluded sand dunes.

The pair had met "by chance" nine months earlier on the interactive Xbox Live game Call of Duty and communicated almost every day.

Clode stayed up most nights playing computer games and spent his days dozing in the dingy one-bedroomed flat he shared with his brother.

He had persuaded the girl to run away from home for a weekend in May and travel hundreds of miles from northern Scotland to see him.

Teesside Crown Court heard during a four-day trial that the youngster bought a tent and condoms before leaving the Highlands on a train.

She called Clode from Hartlepool railway station and the pair took a taxi to nearby Crimdon Dene and pitched the small shelter on dunes.

He took bin bags with a duvet, pillows and two bottles of water - all he had in the fridge, as his mother had not done his grocery shopping.

During his trial last month, that the jobless games freak denied that he had hatched a plan with the youngster to skip school to meet.

He told the jury that he was shocked when she turned up, and also denied having sex with her during the overnight stay in the tent.

The girl's father travelled through the night after learning she had gone missing, and walked the streets of Hartlepool looking for her.

She initially told cops they had sex during the overnight stay in the tent, but later changed her story to explain the forensic evidence.

She gave evidence - branded a "false account" by the judge - during the trial which absolved Clode of any blame and indicated she was at fault.

He was, however, found guilty of meeting a child after sexual grooming, child abduction and two charges of sexual activity with a child.

Judge Howard Crowson told him: "She continues to be infatuated by you. Her outlook on life has been completely distorted by your influence."

Rebecca Brown, mitigating, said their meeting had been by chance, and said: "This was not a deliberate attempt to look for underage people."

Judge Crowson told Clode: "The 'age of consent' rules that apply in this country exist precisely because it is otherwise the case that some 14-year-old girls will act against their own best interests when influenced by men like you. It is the responsibility of adult men to ensure that they respect those laws.

"Her continued infatuation for - demonstrated by her willingness to give false evidence in your support - further demonstrates why it is necessary to protect 14-year-old girls from men such as you.

"After that chance encounter, it was not necessary and it was clearly inappropriate for you to develop the type of relationship that you did with her.

"Friendly conversation could be forgiven and perhaps understood, but you encouraged her infatuation with you when you could have easily cut the connection, and I am driven to conclude that you continued the contact for your own selfish motives."