Damian Parkin, aged 30, from Durham, has been sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment at Teesside Crown Court following a calculated campaign of grooming, sexual exploitation, and manipulation targeting a vulnerable 15-year-old girl.
The court heard that Parkin deliberately presented himself as a caring, protective figure to gain the confidence of the child and her family. Behind this facade of support, Parkin exploited the victim’s emotional vulnerabilities, fostering dependency and systematically attempting to sever her ties with protective adults and safeguarding professionals.
Parkin utilised gifts to generate a sense of loyalty and indebtedness, orchestrated private meetings, and framed their contact as a mutual, legitimate relationship in an attempt to normalise the conduct and conceal the sexual exploitation. He actively coached the child on operational secrecy, instructing her on how to hide their communications from her family and social services.
Under UK legislation, all victims of sexual offences are protected by lifelong statutory anonymity.
The operation was launched in March 2026 after a concerned family member alerted authorities to Parkin’s inappropriate conduct towards the child, leading to an immediate statutory referral from Children’s Services to North Yorkshire Police.
Specialist investigators seized Parkin’s digital devices and conducted digital forensic extractions. The analysis revealed extensive message logs showing Parkin coaching the victim on evasion tactics, alongside nine Category C indecent images of the child that Parkin had created himself.
Appearing before Teesside Crown Court, Parkin entered formal guilty pleas to:
- Engaging in sexual activity with a child
- Taking indecent photographs of a child
- Perverting the course of justice
The presiding judge noted that Parkin was entitled to statutory credit for his admissions, which spared the young victim the trauma of giving evidence at a contested trial.
On 2 October, the judge sentenced Parkin to a determinate custodial sentence of 37 months’ imprisonment. In addition to the prison term, Parkin was made subject to mandatory notification requirements on the Sex Offenders Register for life, handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and placed under a five-year restraining order strictly prohibiting any contact with the victim.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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