November 2019 Man who pestered underage girl for sex is jailed A pervert who pestered an underage girl less than half his age for sex has been jailed. Matthew Nicholls, now 40, texted and messaged the 15-year-old through Facebook with his sexual requests for nearly a year, knowing she was under 16, said Chloe Hudson, prosecuting. In a victim personal statement, the girl said: “My childhood was taken away from me by someone I trusted.” She now has difficulty forming meaningful relationships with people. “You were pestering her for sex,” Judge Sean Morris told Nicholls. “I have no doubt that if she had acceded to your requests you would have gone through with it. “She had the good sense to reject your advances and bring it to the attention of others.” Nicholls, of Grange Crescent, Tadcaster, pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in a sexual act on the day he was due to be tried for a more serious sexual offence. He was jailed for 10 months, made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years and put on the sex offenders’ register for seven years at York Crown Court. The more serious offence was left on file, which means it will appear on his criminal record, but not as a conviction.