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Jail for 'immature' sex-offender

Man met girl via online chatroom

A child sex offender who embarked on explicit conversations with a 13 year-old girl has been sent to prison and placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

Andrew Peter Corkill of North Shore Road in Ramsey admitted five charges of attempting to commit or procuring an act of gross indecency with a child.

The 37 year-old, who claims he did not realise the teenager was under-age, got in touch with the girl from the UK in an online chatroom.

The court heard Corkill committed the offences on multiple occasions over a period of months between June and November last year.

In mitigation, it was told he had admitted his guilt immediately, had no similar previous convictions and that communication was on-line rather than in person.

His advocate said the defendant was a rather ‘immature character’ who lived alone and found it difficult to interact socially, suffering from mental health issues and alcohol abuse.

Deemster Montgomerie imposed a 15 months’ sentence for each offence which will run concurrently.

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