Man jailed for almost seven years for grooming child in Suffolk

A West Midlands man has been jailed for six years and ten months for grooming a child in Suffolk.

Corey Anderson, 50, from Castle Street in Tipton, was found guilty of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following a sexual grooming, sexual communication with a child and child abduction at Ipswich Crown Court.

He met his victim online in 2018, before meeting up with her in the summer of 2020 when she was 15 years old.

He took her from Suffolk back to his home in Tipton, with the teenager later being reported missing by her family.

Suffolk Detective Constable Sam Chandler said: “The defendant in this case poses a significant risk to children."

“Throughout the trial he insisted his motivations were purely honourable, in that he was concerned for the welfare of the child to whom he was not related.

"However, the evidence in this case proved that he had been in communication with the vulnerable child since she was 12 years old and that he had groomed her over a three-year period, before abducting her and sexually assaulting her at his home, all for his own sexual gratification.

“The sentence sends a clear message to other potential perpetrators of child sex abuse; this kind of offending will not be tolerated, and Suffolk Constabulary will investigate all such matters carefully and thoroughly in order to bring these perpetrators to justice and to protect the most vulnerable within our society.

“The victim in this case and her family have shown immense courage and strength in telling their story, engaging with the police investigation and the ensuing trial and I hope in time the victim can heal from the harm that was inflicted upon her at such a young age.

“The sentence today reinforces why we do this job, to protect the vulnerable.”

Anderson was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

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