A MAN who groomed and abused an underage girl, telling her he was, “her man”, was jailed for eight years.

Jamie Lee Collins sexually interfered with the girl over three months, during which he also furtively filmed her leaving the shower.

Durham Crown Court heard that when she discovered the footage on his phone she challenged Collins, but he passed it off, saying he was “just messing about”.

Jane Waugh, prosecuting, said on his arrest, after the girl revealed what had taken place, police found indecent images of other children on his home computer and discovered he had made searches for websites relating to voyeurism.

Collins, 31, of Bramwell Road, Sunderland, initially made denials over his activities,, but, shortly before his scheduled trial, last October, he admitted nine counts of either sexual assault or causing a child to engage in sexual activity, plus one each of voyeurism and making indecent photos of a child.

But he subsequently sacked his legal representatives and tried to vacate those guilty pleas, an application which was rejected at a court in Carlisle, last month.

The sentencing hearing was told of the massive impact his offending has had on the victim, whose school work and exam results have suffered as a result.

David Callan, mitigating, said it was a mystery why a man who runs a successful computer enterprise would lapse into such behaviour, leaving his business in jeopardy.

Jailing Collins, Judge Christopher Prince said he “prolonged the victim’s agony” by trying to vacate his earlier guilty pleas.

Collins must register as a sex offender for life and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, “until further order”.