January 2021 No jail for Oldham man who sent sexual messages to teen he had known since she was nine An Oldham man who sent sexual messages to a teenage girl he had known since she was nine has been spared jail. Andrew Hall of Polefield Approach in Prestwich, knew the young girl as his partner knew her mother. Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court he developed a relationship with her and communicated through Whatsapp and Facebook. The 31-year-old appeared to be sentenced after admitting to two counts of sexual communication with a child in Oldham. Prosecutor Julian Goode revealed what happened. He said: “In August 2019 the defendant messaged the complainant on her mobile phone through Whatsapp. “She did not know how the defendant got her number. “He sent a picture of his stomach area, the complainant said are you sure these are meant to go to me, he replied yes please don’t say anything.” He also asked her if she wanted to see more. After this incident he asked her to delete the messages. Hall repeated the trick in April 2020 when he messaged her on Facebook and asked her if she was alone. Mr Goode said: “The defendant messaged asking are you wearing matching underwear?” The young girl’s boyfriend then spotted the message and sent a lengthy reply telling him to stop before Hall’s partner became aware of the messages and contacted the police. When spoken to by the police Hall said he must have sent them but was drunk at the time so had no memory of doing so. Judge Abigail Hudson opted to impose a community order on Hall. She said: “She knew the messages were inappropriate and so did you because you told her to delete them. “I accept you may well have been drunk when you sent these messages, you knew what you were doing and it was wrong. “She has learnt that not all adults can be trusted and that will affect her for the rest of her life. “She was a young girl you had known for a long period of time and the age gap between you was considerable. “You have got an understanding of the wrong you committed.” She fined him £500, placed him on the sex offenders register, ordered him to take part in the horizon programme and attend 15 days of rehabilitation requirement activity.