A TEENAGER was given a reprieve after being briefly locked up for having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet.

Jason Atkinson, 18, "seduced" the girl in chat room messages, and arranged the liaison to have sex in a tent, in a field near Spennymoor, County Durham, last July.

Police were alerted by the girl's mother, and after a search, found the tent, where they found Atkinson and the girl, with another person, the following morning.

Durham Crown Court heard there was evidence the teenagers had been drinking, and used condoms were found nearby.

Richard Cowen, prosecuting, said: "Any sexual activity which took place was consensual, but clearly she is well below the age of consent.

"He is five years older than her and would have been well aware of her age."

Mr Cowen said the girl's mother was aware of previous meetings and warned Atkinson to keep away from her daughter.

Atkinson, a student, of Moorside, Spennymoor, who has no previous convictions, admitted sexual activity with a child.

Tom Mitchell, in mitigation, told the court: "This carries all the features that makes parents worry for their own children in the outside world.

"It bears features like drinking and innocent contact over the Internet growing into something more serious."

Mr Mitchell said Atkinson's parents are "mortified and ashamed" at his actions.

"He has made a terrible, dreadful, drunken error in the heat of the moment, in a tent of all places.

"It's not a mistake he will make again."

Judge Tony Lancaster initially imposed a nine-month sentence in a young offenders' institution (YOI), with two years supervision.

But Atkinson was brought back from the cells when it was realised that the sentence could not be passed under the terms of the Criminal Justice Act of 2003, which came into force last April, prior to commission of the offence.

Judge Lancaster replaced it with a 45-week sentence at a YOI, suspended for 12 months, with an order that Atkinson attends a supervised sex offender treatment programme.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for ten years.