Man had sex with girl, 12

A 20-YEAR-OLD student who had sex with a girl aged 12 was spared a jail sentence after an Old Bailey trial was told of her promiscuity.

Sentencing him to 200 hours' community service, Judge David Morgan Hughes said: 'It may well be that she was substantially more sexually experienced than you were . . . Custodial sentences in these cases are inevitable. I have been told, however, by both counsel, that this young girl had been sexually active and apparently very active for quite a number of years.'

The court was told that the girl became sexually active at the age of eight. She had had sex with at least two men and was believed to have also had intercourse with boys at school. There was so much concern over her promiscuous behaviour that police and social workers were called in.

The offence happened after the defendant's mother offered to look after the girl at her home in east London while the girl's mother, a family friend, considered what to do.

The arrangement ended in November 1992 when the defendant's mother found the girl having sex with a man. It then emerged that the girl had also seduced the woman's son.