A MAN has been spared jail after having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Gary Howard, 27, had sex with the girl after asking her to walk home with him after a game. He went on to contact the schoolgirl on social media before meeting her for sex on two other occasions at the park in Okehampton.

He was spared an immediate jail sentence after a judge heard he is rated in the bottom one per cent of the population for intelligence and has a reading age of just nine.

He has also been diagnosed with ADHD and suspected autism and was said to find it easier to make friends with children than with people of his own age.

Howard admitted three offences of sexual activity with a child and was jailed for two years, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake rehabilitation work with the probation service.

Judge Philip Wassall ordered him to sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and said he will impose a Sexual Harm Prevention Order at a later hearing at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘You bumped into the victim of this offence in a local park and there was a connection through mutual friends. You had been playing football and when you went to get changed, you asked her to come with you.

‘She talked about some problems in her life and comforted her and later sexual intercourse took place. I accept you had not groomed her and this was a spontaneous offence.

‘The circumstances were similar on two further occasions when you met by chance in the same area. There was no grooming but messages show the contact was persisted with.

‘Matters came to light when her father saw the messages. I have seen her impact statement and it is clear she has come to realise the effect on her when she looks back at what happened.

‘It is predictably serious and severe and it is affecting the way she lives her life and will continue to do so.’

The judge said he was taking account of a psychological report in his decision to suspend the sentence.

Mr Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said the offences took place last year when the girl was 14 and came to light when her father found incriminating messages and called in the police.

The girl made a statement explaining how they knew each other through a group of friends and sexual contact started after the chance meeting at the park.

Mr Adam Morgan, defending, said there apparent difference in age was mitigated by Howard’s very low intellectual age and his psychological conditions.

He said: ‘The defendant had a different view of the friendship because of his emotional naivety and immaturity.

‘He is not a predatory or sophisticated individual and has no sexual interest in children.’

He said Howard has a reading age of nine and intellectual and cognitive capacity lower than 99.9 per cent of the population but would benefit from one to one work with the probation service to improve his ability to interact with people of his own age.