9:20am Tuesday 27th July 2010
By Bruce Unwin
A MAN took advantage of a drunken under-age girl who called at his house feeling ill, a court heard.
Daniel Kenneth Lomas, 26, who had also been drinking, took the girl, who was 14 at the time, in, but later tried to engage her in sexual activity.
Earlier in the evening, the girl had visited his house with friends, but later returned alone.
Durham Crown Court heard Lomas tried to kiss her several times, and although she initially responded, she rejected his later attempts.
Later, he grabbed her as she came out of the bathroom and he led her by the wrists to his bedroom, where he indecently touched her.
Durham Crown Court heard that she refused to take part in further sexual activity and ran downstairs.
Lomas followed and tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away and kicked him, before leaving the house.
The court was told he asked her not to tell anyone what had taken place, but she later told her parents.
Lomas was arrested and questioned, but initially claimed he had been out with friends in Newcastle at the time of the allegation, last October.
Lesley Kirkup, prosecuting, told the court the victim had been drinking with friends and intended visiting another girl when they called at his house.
Lomas took them in as the girl felt sick, but they later left.
The girl returned alone a short time afterwards, when the incident took place.
Paul Cleasby, in mitigation, told the court that Lomas had been to Newcastle with friends that night, but had returned and was having a can of lager when the girls called at the house.
He took the girl in as she wanted to crash out, but Mr Cleasby stressed it was not a case of Lomas “plying her with drink” to make the most of the situation.
He said: “It was a regrettable drunken incident that he didn’t set out to create that night.”
Mr Cleasby added that Lomas had few previous convictions and nothing of a sexual nature.
Lomas, who admitted one count of sexual activity with a child at an earlier hearing, was jailed for 20 months.
Judge Christopher Prince told Lomas he accepted he had not enticed the girl to the house or plied her with drink, but added: “An aggravating feature is that there’s no suggestion that the complainant in this case consented.”
Lomas, of West End, Wolsingham, County Durham, will serve up to ten months behind bars before completing the sentence on licence.
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