A 25-year-old man who had sex with an underage girl he had contacted on Facebook has been warned to expect jail.
And Ben Lawrance will have to register as a sex offender after admitting the offence with the 15-year-old in Marlborough.
Lawrance, of Enborne Street, Enborne, near Newbury, pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual activity with a child when he appeared at Swindon Crown Court.
The court heard that he had ‘coerced’ the youngster when the communicated online before meeting up on Friday, January 16.
Steven Molloy, defending, said there was an issue over whether there was ‘grooming or significant planning’ by his client
But he accepted that the sentencing judge could decide the issue by looking at transcripts of the Facebook messages between them.
Recorder Ian Lawrie QC said “In light of the plea you have entered today I am going to adjourn sentence in this case to June 26.
“That is to enable the preparation of a pre-sentence report for a future court as to what sentence, what length of sentence, will be imposed because as you accept there is a high likelihood you will go to prison because of the seriousness of the offence.”
He released him on bail on condition he does not contact the victim or have any unsupervised contact with children under 18 and lives at his home address.