A SEX offender "blackmailed" his victim by repeatedly asking her: "Do you want me to go to prison?"

The schoolgirl recorded a conversation she had with Robert Fielden in which he confessed to abusing her, Teesside Crown Court heard.

In the recording - played to the court - Fielden admitted: "I messed with you, which I shouldn't have done."

Police were called in after the confession, and the 55-year-old later admitted abusing the girl at his bedsit in Stockton.

His lawyer, Andrew Turton, described him as a chronic alcoholic who led "something of an aimless existence".

The court heard how the abuse has had a devastating impact on the young victim, who has tried to strangle herself with a dressing gown cord and taken overdoses.

Her mother and best friend revealed how she has gone from a "normal" girl to one with extreme issues, including self-harming.

Prosecutor Aisha Wadoodi told Judge Deborah Sherwin that she has suffered "severe psychological harm".

Fielden, of Thornaby Road, Stockton, was jailed for 40 months after admitting three charges of sexual assault.

Judge Sherwin told him: "When you were interviewed by the probation officer, you said your actions were not driven by any sort of sexual gratification. That's a suggestion I find very hard to accept. It is quite clear you minimised your conduct.

"When she confronted you in order to record your reaction, you effectively blackmailed her by saying 'do you want me to go to jail' over and over."

Mr Turton said: "In the recording, there is acknowledgement of what he did was wrong. He tells the Probation Service had these matters not come to light, he would have stopped."