AN Army sergeant is facing prison after being found guilty of sex sessions with a girl of 13 at his camp.

Twice-wed Michael Baker, 40, was found guilty of six charges of underage sex with the girl, now aged 15.

The offences came to light after her family found letters from him hidden in her bedroom.

Baker smuggled the youngster into his camp under a blanket in a car for Saturday afternoon sex sessions.

Baker denied the girl's story, which was given over a courtroom video link, but a jury at Teesside Crown Court found him guilty yesterday.

Baker, a 22-year veteran in 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, at Allanbrooke Barracks, in Topcliffe, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was released on bail for pre-sentence reports.

Judge John Walford said: "You must recognise that a custodial sentence is inevitable and a substantial one at that.

"One of the factors that needs to be addressed is whether you pose a risk to other young people."

Tom Roberts, defending, said Baker had moved to an address outside the area, and that there was no risk of him encountering the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

He also wanted to make domestic plans for his wife and ten-year-old stepson.

Baker told the jury that the girl had a crush on him.

He said that his letters to her were intended to scare her off. Instead, he said, she replied to them.

Baker said that one day he found a note from her in his back garden asking "Why are you with her when you can be with me?".

He said: "I deliberately wrote an over-the-top note with a view to putting her off. I got answers every time which I destroyed, and now it is obvious that my notes were not putting her off, but it was not then."

Jeremy Hill-Baker, prosecuting, asked: "Your decision was to write a pornographic letter to this girl in order to put her off?"

Baker agreed that he wrote six letters which were shown in court. Most started with the words "Hi sexy".

Baker said the girl told him she was 16 and that he drove her twice in his Peugeot 306 to his office at the barracks, with the intention of putting her off.

The girl told the court that Baker smuggled her into the camp under a blanket in his car and that they had sex 20 times, but he denied this.

Baker, formerly of Racecourse Mews, Thirsk, was found guilty of six charges of having underage sex with her when she was 13 and 14, between November 2001 and July last year.

A sentencing date has yet to be set by the court.