In 2021, a 13-year-old girl from Brighton was groomed and engaged in “sexual activity” with a man, Kerien Rudland, who has been sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison.
On Friday, June 25, Kerien Rudland, then 24, of Alwold Crescent, Eltham, was sentenced at Chichester Crown Court.
At Brighton Crown Court, he had entered a plea of guilty to two counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and meeting a child following sexual grooming.
Rudland encountered the girl on the Internet, engaged in online grooming, arranged to meet her in Brighton, and engaged in sexual activity with her on the shore and on the train back to London.
He was also found guilty of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a girl under 16, and attempting to cause a child to witness a sexual act in a separate trial.
These offences were associated with his online activity from his family home in Hull, where he sent messages to an individual who posed as a 13-year-old girl.
In August 2018, Humberside Police apprehended him on suspicion of committing that offence.
The language Rudland employed when communicating with the Brighton girl on Facebook was strikingly similar to the messages sent to the ‘decoy’ account.
Rudland has been issued a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which will impose severe restrictions on his access to computers and minors until further notice from the court. Additionally, he will be registered as a sex offender for life.
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