August 2019 Judge slams North Wales Police child sex abuse charge delay A judge has criticised a police force for taking 18 months to charge a man who has since admitted sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl. Michael David Jones, now 32, was jailed for three years and four months at Caernarfon Crown Court on Monday. North Wales Police had interviewed Jones about the allegations in November 2017, but did not charge him until May this year, a delay Judge Huw Rees called “inexcusable”. The force has been asked to comment. The court heard Jones, of Dwyran, Anglesey, picked up the vulnerable girl and drove her to Caernarfon, where he performed a sex act on her in the back of his car. Police examined the girl’s mobile phone and found a conversation with Jones – who was 30 at the time – in which she made clear she was 14. Giving a statement from behind a screen, the girl, who is now 16, claimed it had ruined her life and caused her to her self harm. “You were the adult – she was the child,” Judge Rees told Jones. Defence counsel Elen Owen said Jones was a hard-working plant operator with a young son. His relationship with his partner had broken down and he had lost his home because of what had happened, Ms Owen added. Jones was also made the subject of indefinite sexual harm prevention and sex offenders’ orders.