A PENSIONER who groomed a teenage girl via sexualised messages on social media has avoided an immediate prison sentence but will have to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Kenneth Parkinson asked the victim for penetrative sexual activity, inquired whether she was a virgin, and told her to come to his home for “some loving to make her feel better”.

The messages between them were found on his phone.

Prosecutor Christopher Dunn told Bradford Crown Court that Parkinson, now 76, of Bretton Court, The Crescent, Bradford, messaged the girl on Facebook between June 27 and July 4, 2022.

The messages were discovered by the victim’s sister, after which the police were informed.

When arrested and interviewed Parkinson gave “no comment” answers but when his phone was downloaded and the chats discovered he said that he knew that what he had done was wrong and that he wanted “it all to go away”.

He was apologetic but then reverted to “no comment” responses.

Parkinson later pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a child.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said she was “struggling” and finding it hard to concentrate in school.

She said: “I seem to come across very angry sometimes and since the case I’ve also found it hard to communicate with people and find it difficult to speak up and talk about my feelings.”

Mitigating, Erin Kitson-Parker said “alcohol and loneliness” had been a catalyst in what she described as the “horrendous offence” committed by Parkinson, a father-of-three and a grandfather-of-five.

She said: “This is properly out of character for Mr Parkinson [who] was subject to abuse himself a long time ago.”

The court heard that Parkinson had suffered two strokes, was on medication for epilepsy, and lived alone in sheltered accommodation that he would lose if he was sent to jail.

She described his predicament as “a huge fall from grace” but that there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation with the support of the probation service.

Sentencing Parkinson to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years Miss Recorder Aisha Wadoodi said: “I have read the entirety of the messages, and you were clearly in my judgment trying to groom her.

“If it had not been for her sister discovering this it is extremely concerning as to what you would have done.

“This is extremely serious.

“You were making sexualised overtures to her persistently.

“I think you don’t understand how serious it was, and I don’t think you are sufficiently remorseful.

“Often in these cases there isn’t a real girl. In this case there was a real girl, and you could have done untold damage to her. It’s only luck that her sister happened to check her phone and then her and her mother took action.”

She made Parkinson subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order. He will sign the sex offenders register for the same period and undertake 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days.