Jack Ashton, 35, from York, sent the girl naked images of himself and pressured her into sending him indecent photos of her after engaging her in the lurid chats on social media, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Chris Dunn said that Ashton even gave the 15-year-old girl a “set of rules” including that she should send him pictures of her face and “outfits” every day.
He told her he wanted to participate in “extreme sex” involving bondage, sadomasochism and sex toys. He said he wanted to “take her innocence”.
Ashton told her he was a teacher and even lied that his wife was dead. He sent money into her PayPal account as part of the grooming process, told her that if she was his pupil he would “end up getting arrested” and that he worked for a political party.
He was finally caught after the girl’s parents contacted West Midlands Police to report that their daughter had been groomed online.
Mr Dunn said that Ashton, of Bishophill Senior, had used social-media apps such as Snapchat and Instagram to engage in the chats which lasted at least four weeks in the spring of 2023.
The victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, said they would chat “all day, every day”.
“The communications became sexualised very quickly and included the sending of indecent images and videos over a number of weeks,” added Mr Dunn.
Ashton, a father-of-two who was living in Scarborough at the time, also encouraged the girl to carry out lewd acts on herself and sent her pictures of him performing sexual acts on himself.
Her parents found chat logs on their daughter’s devices where Ashton had used a false first name and messages had been deleted.
They provided police with screenshots which led to the identification of Ashton through his usernames on Snapchat and Instagram which ultimately enabled them to trace the conversations to his mobile phone and his address in Scarborough.
In January 2023, North Yorkshire Police officers arrested him at his then marital home where they seized electronic items including his mobile.
In an interview with West Midlands Police, the victim told officers she had initially been contacted by Ashton on another social-media app where “you can call a stranger without usernames”.
She told Ashton she was 15, but he said that “if it was alright with her, it was alright with him”.
Ashton had made lurid comments about “innocent” pictures she had sent him and told her he wanted to “use her” and take her virginity. He would “pester her with messages if she didn’t respond” because she was at school.
He once told her: “I can’t believe I’m falling in love with someone 18 years younger than me.”
He said that “if he was her teacher, he would end up getting arrested” because “the online stuff may become physical”. He also talked about meeting up with her at a hotel in the Midlands for sex.
During police analysis of his devices, forensic officers discovered that Ashton had been chatting to other under-age girls online and there were “concerns” that there were other sordid videos linked to him. However, despite an investigation both “nationally and internationally”, these discoveries did not result in any charges.
Police also found 19 indecent images of young girls on Ashton’s phone and naked images of him which he had sent to the victim from his bedroom.
He was charged with two counts of causing or inciting a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communication with a child and two counts of making indecent images. He ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence.
The court heard that the victim’s mother had “noticed changes in her daughter” while she was being groomed by Ashton. She became “more secretive and quick-tempered, which was out of character”.
She said her daughter now realised that the “cycle of abuse has taken a lot of her innocence” and it had had a profound psychological effect upon her.
Ashton’s solicitor advocate Neil Cutte said his client was “an educated man; a man who should have known better”.
He said the “motivation was circumstance” – predominantly the state of Ashton’s marriage at the time – and his purported “neurodiversity issues” including suspected, albeit undiagnosed, autism.
He said that Ashton had since moved in with his parents in York and intended to remain in the city when he was released from prison. His 13-year marriage was now over and divorce proceedings were underway.
Following his arrest, he had found work at a local supermarket, but he had since resigned after the company learned of his offending.
“He isn’t going to be working again in the teaching profession, as he did some years ago,” added Mr Cutte.
Judge Simon Phillips KC told Ashton he had shown an “utter disregard for (the victim’s) innocence” and it appeared that the former teacher had “enjoyed exercising an element of control on the victim”.
“You were more than twice (the victim’s) age; you were a married man, a qualified teacher,” said Mr Phillips.
“You acknowledge that, as a teacher, you completed safeguarding (training) on child exploitation. You were well aware how wrongful your activity was.”
He added: “This was prolonged and persistent communication with a 15-year-old child. You were aware of her age from the outset. You craved constant contact. Inevitably, the offending will foreseeably have a detrimental impact upon (the victim).”
Ashton was jailed for two years and four months and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years. He was also made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order, partly to curb his online activities, which will run for an indefinite period.
