April 2004 Girls groomed by sex pervert A PERVERT who groomed two young teenagers for sex was jailed for four and a half years yesterday. Robin Alexander Burnett (49), admitted eight offences of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16. He was ordered to serve a further 131 days of an outstanding six-year sentence for offences of dishonesty, put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and banned from working with children for life. Bradford Crown Court heard that he took the Halifax girls, aged 13 and 15, shopping at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, bought them underwear and mobile phones and often took them to a hotel for sex. Tahir Khan, prosecuting, said Burnett, of Adare Street, Ogmore Vale, Bridg-end, Wales, met the older girl when she lived in Sheffield and then visited her when she moved to Halifax. He said: “As time went on she was less and less inclined to go with him.” The older girl introduced Burnett to her 13-year-old friend and on two occasions she agreed to have sex with him Mr Khan said Burnett took the girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to a hotel in Wakefield several times. He introduced the older girl as his daughter and the younger one as his daughter’s friend. Mr Khan said both of the girls were present when he had sex with one of them and he often had sex with the older girl in his car. Burnett was arrested at the Wakefield hotel in Octoberafter the 13-year-old called the police. He was having sex with the 15-year-old when officers burst into the room. Judge Roger Scott said the victim impact statements made “unhappy reading.” Tim Stead, for Burnett, said he had no previous convictions for sexual offences. When passing sentence, Judge Scott, said: “The pre-sentence report indicates that you are a predator – in fact that you were grooming young children for your own desire and to that extent the Probation Service see you as a considerable danger to children in the future. “You bribed them with gifts and you were caught in the end, as one would expect, actually having intercourse with a 15-year-old child.” Judge Scott said Burnett was in a position of trust and his “grooming knew no bounds.”