A MAN who had intercourse with a Burnley schoolgirl, and sexual activity with another child, has been jailed for three years.

Jack Tomlinson groomed the first girl, and kissed and cuddled the second.

He touched the second girl and wanted sex with her, but she refused. He had struck while on bail, and was persistent in his law-breaking, the town’s crown court was told.

Tomlinson, now 24, and a father-of-two, had admitted a total of nine allegations of sexual activity with a child. He had denied two charges of sexual activity with a child, but was recently convicted by a jury of both counts, after a trial.

Tomlinson, who committed the offences in the Burnley area, was ordered to sign the sexual offenders register indefinitely, and was given a 10-year sexual offences prevention order.

Tomlinson, formerly of Dall Street, Burnley, and now of Stanley Road, Keighley, had no previous convict-ions.

Mark Savill, prosecuting, said the offences took place over four years. Tomlinson was said to have behaved strangely, and ridden past the home of one of the girls several times on his motorbike.

He had followed her home, waited at a bus stop, and pestered her with a lot of messages, leaving her in ‘floods of tears’. Police were contacted.

Kathryn Johnson, defending Tomlinson, urged the court to consider an alternative to an immediate custodial sentence.

Sentencing, Judge Andrew Woolman told Tomlinson he had been old enough to know that sexual intercourse with a young girl was wrong.

The judge said Tomlinson showed a degree of persistence in his conduct, even though he knew it was against the law.

Judge Woolman said: “People think well of you. I recognise that a custodial sentence is going to fall hard upon you and your family.”

He added: “I do not regard you as a danger to young children. The risks in your case are to teenage girls, and not to youngsters.”