thinking she was 19
A barman who admitted having sex with a 12-year-old girl walked free from court after convincing a judge she had tricked him into believing she was an adult.
Michael Graham, 25, met the girl through a social networking website on which she had posted pictures of herself and described herself as a 19-year-old student and single mother who enjoyed drinking and having sex.
The girl was inundated with offers from men, but only replied to Graham because he was the best looking, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Sympathy: Judge Jennifer Kershaw was convinced by barman Michael Graham
They arranged to meet and went to Graham's flat where they watched TV, drank vodka and beer and smoked skunk cannabis.
Graham and the girl had ' consensual sex' four times during the overnight stay, but he admitted four counts of rape because legally a child under 13 cannot consent to sexual activity with an adult.
The girl's parents thought she was staying overnight at a friend's house and called police when she did not return home the next day.
She picked up a morning-after pill after leaving the flat at 5pm and by the time she got home her parents had found her incriminating website and she admitted the truth.
After hearing the background, Judge Jennifer Kershaw, QC, took a sympathetic view towards Graham and gave him a 12-month conditional discharge.
She said there was a 'striking' contrast-between how the girl looked in school uniform while giving video evidence to police and the image she used of herself on her website.
Explaining the sentence to the court, she said: 'I accept the defendant did not know how old this girl was. I accept he did not know she was under the age of 16, still less did he know she was in fact 12.
It seems to me that this defendant was deceived. He was deceived in a number of material respects, both beforehand and during their encounter.'
The court heard Graham contacted the girl by email, text and phone after seeing her picture and profile on her Netlog site. He messaged her to say she was 'fit' and she replied, 'You're fit as well'.
Her fake web profile said her 'favourite person' was her baby boy, she had previously worked at a care home and was now a student living with her brother. Weeks later
they arranged to meet up at Leeds bus station and went to Graham's rented flat in Headingley.
The schoolgirl told police she packed a condom in her overnight bag, but had unprotected sex with Graham.
Kama Melly, defending, said the girl appeared knowledgeable about sex.
She added that Graham 'didn't notice any difference in the complainant's sexual development compared to other women he had had sexual intercourse with in the past'.
The girl did not seem upset at the time and even sent Graham a text thanking him for a 'great night', the court heard.
A psychiatrist's report on Graham concluded he had no sexual interest in children and was not a paedophile.
Graham has previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly, driving over the limit, supplying cannabis resin and possessing a bladed article.
His name will be on the Sex Offenders' Register for 12 months - the minimum - and he was made the subject of a 12-month order banning him from contacting the girl.
After the case Michele Elliott, of the charity Kidscape, said she was surprised at the sentence.
'I find it hard to believe you would be fooled by a 12-year-old girl into thinking she is 19, especially if you talked to her,' she added.
She said she had 'some sympathy' with Graham if he was tricked, however that was 'tempered by the fact that all he wanted to do was jump on her, get her drunk and have sex with her'.
She added: ' There's also a message here to all parents to know what your 12-year-old daughter is doing.'
Source: Daily Mail UK., September 19, 2008 
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