A MAN who groomed a 14-year-old girl online and filmed himself having sex with her has been jailed for three years and ten months.

David Stephen Tawse, previously of The Avenue, Stokesley and York Road, Thirsk, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty in December to four counts of sexual activity with a child, one of making an indecent image and one of child abduction.

North Yorkshire Police’s Serious Crime Team launched an investigation into a suspected sexual relationship between 24-year-old Tawse and the teenage girl last November.

The investigation found that Tawse had struck up a relationship with the girl via Facebook in March 2016 and despite knowing that she was 14, he met up with her several times to have sex.

Unbeknown to the girl, he also filmed them having sex and used the footage to threaten the girl into carrying on the relationship.

Tawse was arrested on November 21 after officers intercepted a plan to travel north with the girl by train from Middlesbrough.

Detective Constable Neil Brodhurst of Northallerton Serious Crime Team, said: “This is a typical case of an older male grooming a young girl online for the purpose of sexual gratification.

"It reiterates why we should all be alert to the signs of sexual grooming.

"Often children in such a situation do not believe they are a victim, and as adults, it is all our responsibility to reinforce safety messages to our children and be alert to the signs of online grooming, inappropriate relationships and child sexual exploitation.”