A MAN who groomed and sexually assaulted a vulnerable 13-year-old girl he had met on Facebook has avoided jail.

Michael King put his hand down the child’s trousers and indecently touched her after the pair met in person for the second time.

But after hearing the 24-year-old dad is immature for his age and was “stupid, rather than a pervert”, a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the victim, who was in care at the time, met King through mutual Facebook friends. She said they messaged each other via the social network, where he used the name Michael Smith, and agreed to meet up in person.

“Michael King told her he was 20 years old and looking for a relationship. She told him she was 13 and at school and in foster care,” she said.

“Her initial view of Michael King at the time was he was nice and didn’t try anything.”

They continued to correspond and agreed to meet for a second time on February 27 when he kissed the child and she said after she kissed him back he “got weird”.

Miss Squire said: “He did something to her that she didn’t want him to do and she didn’t give him consent. He put his hand in her jeans.”

As she resisted, he told her, “Please babe, just five minutes, you can play with me,” but after he touched her improperly she walked off and went home, the court heard.

The next day she sent him a message online saying ‘I didn’t want to do that last night’.

Miss Squire said: “This was a 13-year-old girl arranging, unwisely, to meet someone but didn’t consent to what happened.”

King admitted sexual assault.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client was an unsophisticated young man with “not the greatest learning ability”.

He said the girl looked and behaved older than her years.

“There is this obsession with trying to behave like ad-ults and he was stupid enough to do something stupid. Frankly he is a stupid young man rather than a pervert.”

At the time of the offending he said he had split from his girlfriend but they are back together and have a child.

Mr Ross said King has a job with Taylor Wimpey where he probably had work for the next three years.

Passing sentence, Judge Tim Mousley QC said: “Any case which involves any form of sexual penetration of a 13-year-old girl is a very serious matter and is rightly regarded as such by the courts.

“The level of offending that you have accepted in this case has put you in a position where potentially you could receive a prison sentence of up to four years.

“This is a serious offence. There is a suggestion that you groomed her. Mr Ross asks me not to come to that conclusion but I am satisfied, not for a long period, that you did groom her and gained her trust. Then, for your own sexual gratification, have this activity with her.

“I am satisfied she ended up doing something she didn’t really want to do.

“You are someone who lacks a certain amount of maturity and who did not have a full awareness of what you were actually doing.”

He imposed a 12-month jail term suspended for two years and told him he must complete a Thames Valley Sex Offenders Programme.

King must also register as a sex offender and be subject to a sexual offence prevention order for five years.