January 2016 A bus passenger who swapped numbers with a girl who claimed she was 19 is now a sex offender – after she turned out to be just 15. Harney Adams had no previous convictions when he engaged in sexual activity with the child. However by then she had confessed her true age. Adams’ conviction was imposed on Monday, January 11, after he admitted three charges of causing or inciting a 15-year-old to engage in sexual activity and having sexual activity with her. Aged 31 and from Radcliffe Street, The Meadows, Adams got the girl to touch him sexually and perform a sexual act – a crime because the girl is not over the age of consent of 16. Judge Jeremy Lea will now refer the defendant’s case to the barring authority, to stop him working with children, and made him the subject of a three-year community order and a sex offender programme. And he ordered Adams to sign the sex offenders’ register for the next five years, so police know where he is living or about any change of address. “I’m satisfied what risk you pose to girls will be mitigated in your participation in that programme,” said Judge Lea. Adams offended between November 30, 2014, and May 31, 2015, Nottingham Crown Court heard. Police were informed about the incidents and he was arrested after the girl. who cannot be identified, was interviewed. Phones were seized and examined and revealed text messages of an explicit and sexual nature. The girl was to tell police how Adams approached her on the bus and they struck up a conversation. She had initially lied about her age and they swapped numbers. But after learning her real age, Adams, who had three unrelated cautions on his record, admitted he had offended with her sexually. The sentencing guidelines recommended a sentencing starting point of five years, with a range of four to ten years after a trial, for a person of previous good character. However, Claire Moran told Judge Lea in mitigation: “It seems to me, in a case such as this, the guidelines could be viewed as a ball park, rather than strictly adhered to.” Now, she said, her client was “so aware and cautious” and “scared to speak to a girl without knowing their full age and proof of it”. A Sexual Harm Prevention Order stipulates Adams must not have any unsupervised contact with a female under 15, invite under 16 year olds into his home or live in the same household. Judge Lea, who followed all the recommendations from a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service, made the sentence concurrent on all four charges and gave him credit for his guilty pleas. But he warned: “If you fail to cooperate with the probation service, then they will bring you back, and the whole sentence is breached.”