A HIGH school science teacher who had sex with a 13-year-old girl he groomed with explicit messages through an internet chat room has been jailed.

Matthew Knott, 24, of Isaac Way, Miles Platting, invented a fictitious persona on the MSN message service to encourage the schoolgirl to meet him.

A court heard the girl knew Knott's real age and he knew hers. But as well as exchanging messages with her as himself, he posed as a 15-year-old girl called 'Jessica' to put her mind at ease.

Manchester Crown Court was told that Knott, a teacher at Elton High in Bury, picked the girl up in his car then took her back to his flat where they had sex.

Devious

The judge called his actions 'well-planned' and devious'. Knott was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and grooming.

The court was told that his career was in ruins.

Strict orders passed by the court will also prevent him from working with children aged under 16 and from using the internet socially.

Adrian Farrow, prosecuting, said the girl was not a pupil at his school.

He said the girl's details and a picture were posted on the social networking site Tagged.com, which had links to the MSN instant messaging service.

Mr Farrow said: "He made it clear that he was 24 years of age. Her true age was on the profile. She said to the defendant that she was 13 years old."

The court heard Knott then sent her explicit messages - both as himself then using the Jessica profile. One asked her 'Are you up for some fun'.

The girl asked what sort of fun. The court heard he replied 'Knickers off sort of fun'.

Messages

The court was told that over the next few days Knott and the girl exchanged several messages.

Mr Farrow said he asked her about sexual activity.

He said: "It was plain to her that the defendant was contemplating sexual intercourse with her. He asked her to send him a naked picture of herself."

The court heard that messages from 'Jessica' were sent encouraging her to meet him.

Mr Farrow said Knott told her that he worked in a laboratory and she agreed to meet him.

The court heard they met on May 31 and Knott picked her up in his car. She said he appeared 'calm and kind' before he became explicit.

The court heard they had sex and later that day, Knott sent her a message as 'Jessica' asking her to wipe her computer and say nothing to police.

She eventually confided in her parents.


It was perfectly clear to the defendant that the police would become involved and he used the fictitious character Jessica to cover the evidence.
Adrian Farrow, prosecuting

 Mr Farrow said: "It was perfectly clear to the defendant that the police would become involved and he used the fictitious character Jessica to cover the evidence."

John Potter, defending, said Knott showed remorse.

He added: "It has destroyed his career, something that he will not be able to resurrect in the future."

Judge Michael Henshall called him 'devious' and said the offences were 'planned and calculated'.

He said: "Parents throughout the country are no doubt worried sick about what their offspring might be doing when they are using the computer."

Knott, who has no previous convictions, was a member of staff at the high school for around five months.

Bury council, which carried out its own investigation into the case, said all the required Criminal Record Bureau checks had been carried out before his application for a job at the school was processed.

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