Paedophile jailed for sex offences in Brighton

David Warrener, a sales representative from Kent, was sentenced to a total of four years and eight months in prison when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Monday (January 30).

He had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to three counts of sexual activity with the 13-year-old, and one count of meeting her following grooming.

Detective Sergeant Paul Hitchcock of the Brighton Safeguarding and Investigation Unit said: “The grooming had taken place for over a year on an online app called ‘ooVoo’, where Warrener had pretended to be a 15-year-old boy. It culminated in him driving to Brighton and engaging in sexual activity with her in his car near Preston Park in August last year.

“He then continued to message the girl, telling her that she could get into trouble if she called the police.

“However, fortunately the girl did report it soon after the offence, and he was identified after extensive enquiries linking a ‘ooVoo’ account to his address in Kent.”

Sentencing him for a total of four years and eight months, Judge Christine Laing QC said: “This girl was deliberately groomed by you and she thought you were 15 years old. This was no momentary lack of judgement and a particularly aggravating feature was messaging her after the offence that if she told anyone she would go to a young person’s jail.”

In addition to the custodial sentence, Warrener was placed on the sex offenders register for life, and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, severely restricting his access to children and computers indefinitely.

DS Hitchcock said: “We will always take reports like this very seriously, investigating and also taking steps to ensure the child is safeguarded.

“If you or someone you know is at risk of grooming or any other type of child exploitation contact us either via 101, or 999 if it is happening right then.”

“There is also a wide range of advice and support available, from us and from our website here.