A 28-YEAR-OLD office worker has been jailed after spending the night with a 12-year-old girl he thought was 19.

Carl Hodgson was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail after inviting the child to his flat in Manchester city centre through a popular adult dating app.

He messaged a friend to boast: "Mine was decent. Nailed that bird, unreal bod" - and also described her as "filth".

Hodgson filmed her on his mobile phone as she wore a body stocking and sent it to a friend, Manchester Crown Court heard.

He also pleasured himself while the girl looked on.

'HIGHLY VULNERABLE'
Sentencing Hodgson, Judge David Stockdale QC told him: "(The victim) was by reason of her age highly vulnerable to exploitation and she was no doubt impressed by you.

"This is most serious offending as you now fully appreciate. The effects on a child of such a young age of offending of this sort are really well too known and well too documented.

"These effects, in many cases, last for the rest of the child's life.

"I take into account that while (the victim) was 12 years of age at the time of these offences you did not believe that to be the case. You thought, and on reasonable grounds, that she was over 16."

Under the law there is no defence of mistaken reasonable belief in age when a sex offence complainant is under 13.

The court heard that the victim used a different name on her dating app profile and falsely stated she was 19.

After Hodgson and the girl met on the dating app they exchanged a series of messages on WhatsApp.

She would often go missing from home and her mum had taken to sleeping downstairs in their home to stop her from slipping out.

However, when it got to 8.30pm, on the night of the incident, her mum realised she was missing.

Hodgson took a video and three photos of the girl while at his flat, the court was told.

SEXUAL BOASTS
Prosecutor Justin Hayhoe told the court: "She presented herself on her social media profile as someone over the age of 16. She did say a meeting took place at the defendants flat and she maintained to the police that the defendant thought her age was 19 rather than 12.

He added: "Police officers attended his address and images were recovered in his mobile phone including a moving image of the complainant posing in a body stocking. He sent one image to his friend and a message stating: 'mine was decent, nailed that bird, unreal bod'. He also said she was 'filth'."

'SIMPLY MALE BRAVADO'
His barrister, Alexander Leach, told the court that those comments were "simply male bravado and bragging" and he had not had sexual intercourse with the girl.

In mitigation, Mr Leach said Mr Hodgson was "not aware he was engaging in any sexual activity with a child".

He added: "He must have known she was significantly younger than him but he believed her to be older than 16 years old.

"He is genuinely ashamed and remorseful for the circumstances he finds himself in but does not seek to minimise his behaviour.

The court heard how his misconduct had a "profound" effect on him and had caused him to lose his "employment, his home and inevitable stigma".

Hodgson pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, distributing an indecent photograph of a child and making indecent photographs of a child.

The Crown offered no evidence against a charge of rape and Judge Stockdale ordered a formal not guilty verdict be returned.

No evidence was also offered against single counts of grooming and child abduction.

Judge Stockdale said he was satisfied that Hodgson's remorse and regret was genuine and he noted the many testimonials he had received which spoke positively of the defendant's good character.

He said the girl had been seen by a consultant psychologist and a social worker and was shown to be in a "withdrawn state" and unable or unwilling to communicate.

It was "inevitable she will suffer in the long term as a consequence of the offending", he said.

Hodgson, of Jordan Street, Manchester, was also banned from contacting the victim will be entered on the sex offenders' register for life.