May 2013 ‘Lonely’ man sent explicit videos to girl A MAN who tried to arrange an encounter with a 13-year-old girl despite acknowledging it was “morally wrong” has been jailed for three years. Michael Ford, 39, exchanged sexually explicit videos with the girl, York Crown Court was told. After several weeks in which they had 800 explicit contacts through internet chats and text messages, the pair met in Museum Gardens, York. No sexual activity took place because Ford had a “change of heart” when they were face to face. The “relationship” ended shortly afterwards. The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said the full impact of his actions on the girl “may not be known formany years to come.” The court heard the girl had several issues in her life and had been affected by the actions of other adults as well. Simon Kealey, defending Ford, said: “What has brought him before this court has been in essence, a sudden collapse of values and a collapse in behaviour.” Ford, of Almsford Drive, Acomb, pleaded guilty to two offences of possessing indecent images, two of causing or inciting a child to perform sexual activity and two of arranging the commission of a sexual offence. He was jailed for three years and banned from working with children, put on the sex offenders’ register and restrictions put on his use of the internet, all for life. Paul Cleasby, prosecuting, said the pair met through an internet dating website, on which the girl claimed to be 18. Shortly after they started exchanging messages, she told him she was 13. Describing an internet message, the barrister said: “The defendant acknowledges she is 13, it is morally wrong, but tells her he is desperate for her.” On another occasion, Ford encouraged the girl to involve her friends in encounters as well. The contacts were revealed when the girl’s mother checked her daughter’s mobile phone after she became suspicious of her activities. Mr Kealey said Ford had “no real excuse” for what he had done. He had been struggling with loneliness for a number of years, following a family bereavement. He had no previous convictions and accepted that what he had done was wrong.