August 2015 Bridgwater paedophile jailed for six years A PAEDOPHILE who raped a 12-year-old girl who ran away from home after he had groomed her over a number of months has been jailed. Nathaniel Hyde, who was 28 at the time, was jailed for six years at Taunton Crown Court on Friday after he admitted three counts of rape in his flat near Bridgwater station in March. The court heard that Hyde started exchanges online message and texts with the girl, from London, when she was only 11, telling her on one occasion that he would like to kiss her and hold her in her arms, the court was told. They met for the first time when the girl skipped school and got on the train to Bridgwater, when she was met by Hyde, who took her to his nearby flat, where they had unprotected sex three times over the next two days. James Taghdissian, prosecuting, said when police raided the flat, Hyde denied the girl was there, but when officers heard a noise from the kitchen, they found her hiding, wearing just a jumper. Hyde and his victim both admitted what had happened, with the girl saying the sex was consensual and she had left home because her mother used to beat her and she had fallen out with her best friend. She said that Hyde told her he was a virgin and because he was so nervous and inexperienced she had to show him what to do, said Mr Taghdissian. Rebecca Bradberry, defending Hyde, who appeared via videolink from Exeter Prison, said he had mental health issues, adding: “He didn’t understand it was inappriopriate to have sex with a 12-year-old girl.” She added: “He made a full admission. There had been platonic conversations going on between them – quite how it ended up in a sexual encounter is quite hard to fathom.” Jailing Hyde, Judge David Ticehurst said: “This young girl was vulnerable and you took advantage of her. “You would have known you shouldn’t have sex with a 12-year-old girl. “There was an element of grooming because you didn’t discourage her to the extent you should have.” The judge said Hyde may represent “a serious threat to individuals in the future” and also imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and ordered him to sign the sexual offenders’ registers and pay a £120 victim surcharge. A count of abducting a child under 16, which Hyde denied, will remain on file.