May 2012 Facebook peril of the ‘Peter Pan’ paedophile A judge has warned parents about the dangers of Facebook after a 50-year-old grandfather used it to groom a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Mark Howe exchanged sexual texts with the vulnerable teenager and persuaded her to join him on a weekend at the seaside and send him topless pictures of herself. He was foiled by a sharp-eyed policeman who spotted them kissing and cuddling in his car just before they were about to set off. He had a box of Viagra with him and when police searched her home they found a packed suitcase on her bed, Exeter Crown Court was told. They found a trail of sexually explicit texts and e-mails in which he called himself Peter Pan and her Tinkerbell. Howe was jailed as a judge warned of the dangers of Facebook on the day it was floated to the public. Judge Erik Salomonsen said: “This is yet another case, and there are many coming before the courts, which illustrate the perils of Facebook and the internet. “This is not the only person of his age to embark on sexual conversation and grooming and it is imperative that parents take these risks and threats seriously and know what their daughters in particular are doing on the internet and with whom they are communicating.” Howe, of Stanbury Court, Crediton, admitted sexual activity with a child, sexual grooming, and possession of ten indecent images of the girl and two movies he had downloaded from the internet. He was jailed for two years. Lee Bremridge, prosecuting, said Detective Constable Dean Jeffery passed a car in a lane off Mount Pleasant Road in Exeter in January and became suspicious at what he saw inside. Mr Bremridge said: “He saw a man in his early 50s kissing a young passenger. He stopped them and found she was 14 and still in school uniform and he admitted kissing and cuddling her in the car. “She said he had been helping her cope with bullying and had picked her up from school. “Inquiries revealed they were about to embark on a weekend away at Burnham-on-Sea and found a bag packed on her bed. She had told her mother she was going with his daughter, a girl called Julie Jones, who did not exist. “Letters, texts and e-mails suggested a more serious relationship between them with him calling her Tinkerbell and using the name Peter Pan for himself.” She told police they met on Facebook and then started exchanging internet messages and he helped her with problems she had at school. She denied they ever had sex. Nicolas Gerasimides, defending, said Howe deluded himself into believing they were in love with each other. He said: “He was in a make believe world. He was not a sexual predator with an interest in young girls who deliberately sought them out.”