A JUDGE said his hands were tied by Parliament after he decided against jailing a man who had sex with an underage girl.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, said despite legislation governing the offence being modernised, he was not able to effectively punish Anthony Young by putting him behind bars.

Young, 23, of Co-operative Street, Shildon, County Dur-ham had admitted sexual intercourse with a girl under 16.

Teesside Crown Court heard he had previous convictions for indecently assaulting two seven-year-old girls in 1998 and a woman in 2001.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said Young was a family friend of the girl, who had told her parents she was with friends but instead went to his house, where they had sex.

Mark Styles, defending, said it was an isolated incident.

Judge Fox said guidelines which came into effect on May 1, the day of the incident, meant Young should not get more than 12 months for the offence with his early guilty plea. He said as Young had already spent 11 weeks on remand, he would be free in three months and he would not have learned his lesson in that time.

Judge Fox said: "Because of legislation as it presently stands, I could not extend the period of your supervision and licence. It seems to me more important to safeguard young women from you.

"I wish Parliament could allow me to make it a lot longer, but I am stuck."

Young was instead given a three-year community rehabilitation order.