No jail for underage sex man

A shamed Wolverhampton radio station technician has escaped jail for having sex with two 14-year-old girls.

Mark Robertson, aged 20, received a police caution after being caught with the first girl but ignored the warning and slept with a different youngster of the same age less than three months later, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Robertson who lives with his parents in Clay Drive, Quinton, Birmingham, was said to earn around £16,000 a year working as a fitter at a hire company. He also occasionally worked for Wolverhampton-based The Wolf radio station, where it was claimed he was a DJ. But station bosses said today he was a freelance technician who had now been sacked as a result of the conviction.

Robertson was charged in relation to the second teenager and admitted sexual activity with a girl under 16.

Mark Rees, prosecuting, said Robertson had received a caution for an earlier similar offence involving a 14-year-old he met on the internet.

Two-and-a-half months later, he had sex in his car with another 14-year-old he had been introduced to by a friend. He did not use contraception, the court heard. Police were alerted after her mother discovered what had happened. The girl had not been forced into the act and later told officers: "I am happy about what I did but my mum found out."

Sarah Jane Buckingham, defending, said: "He has been utterly stupid. He had his warning and was given his opportunity but did not take it.

"He is not the brightest of young men and should have realised that he was placing himself in a very dangerous situation."

Judge Michael Dudley gave Robertson a three-year community order under supervision and ordered him to attend a sex offenders' programme and sign the sex offenders register for five years. He was also instructed to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £400 court costs. The judge told him: "You deserve to go to prison but there is a good side to you.

"You have grown up a bit since committing this offence and both you and the general public would be better served by a sentence that has some support attached to it."

Richard Dodd, programme manager at Wolf FM, said Robertson had worked as a freelance studio-based technical operator at the station since last November.

He said: "We did a criminal record check but ongoing charges do not appear unless there is a conviction. We only found out yesterday and the contract has been terminated."