A man who had sex with a 16-year-old girl and sent her videos of himself masturbating has been jailed.

Anthony Brown had begun a purely platonic relationship with the girl when she was 15, but this slowly turned into one of a sexual nature, with the pair exchanging text messages and photos.

Preston Crown Court heard how just after her 16th birthday, safeguarding staff from the girl’s college had been made aware the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in a relationship with a man in his 30s.

Enquiries were made and it became apparent that there had been communications between the girl and the defendant, who is now 41.

Prosecuting, Paul Treble said there had been texts exchanged between the pair, some of which read, “loved being in bed with you”, and “was the sex ok with you last night?”.

He said: “Police analysed the phones of both of them and found messages and photos as well as moving images which depicted sexual activity.

“In one of the messages she suggests she would like to have sex with the defendant and sent him pictures of her naked breasts.

“He sent moving images of himself masturbating.

“He also said he ‘found her sexy’ and that she ‘made him horny’.

“He knew it was wrong but continued to send messages saying things like ‘ I proper fancy you’ and ‘you only live once, it’s our business’.”

It is believed the victim and Brown only had consensual sex after she turned 16, and he did not have any prior interest in young children or girls.

The court heard how the girl did not support the prosecution and a victim impact statement from her mother describes how her daughter fell into depression and began self-harming after the incidents came to light.

However, David Farley, mitigating for Brown, said it wasn’t clear whether the impact on the girl was due to the offending or because she wasn’t allowed to see Brown anymore.

Brown, of Rising Bridge Road, Accrington, pleaded guilty to causing a child to look at an image of sexual activity, engaging in sexual communications with a child, two counts of making an indecent image of a child and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

In respect of the pornographic image, Mr Farley said his client had been sent this in a private WhatsApp chat between a group of men some years ago and it had remained on his phone.

He said Brown, who has no previous convictions, was “disgusted with himself” and didn’t find young children sexually attractive, but admitted to finding the victim attractive in this case.

He said: “He regrets not saying no at the time and is a low risk of re-offending.”

Recorder Sophie Cartwright KC sentenced Brown to 16 months in prison.

He was also made subject to notification requirements for 10 years and a sexual harm prevention order.