July 2014 Pensioner jailed after he paid vulnerable girl of 15 for sex A depraved pensioner who took a schoolgirl to a hotel and used her as a prostitute has been jailed for eight years. Roy Spencer, 73, checked into a hotel in Chorley with the vulnerable teenager, knowing the youngster was desperate for money. Preston Crown Court heard the 15-year-old felt uneasy about the situation, but Spencer told her she would not be paid if she did not carry out his sexual demands. Sentencing, Judge Heather Lloyd said: “You abused her and used her as a commodity.” Spencer had denied any wrongdoing throughout his trial at Preston Crown Court but was convicted of three offences of sexual activity with the girl and one of inciting sexual activity. The court heard the youngster, from Chorley, was left so traumatised by what had happened she was later admitted to hospital. While she was still receiving care as an in-patient, Spencer continued to make contact with the girl’s family members in an attempt to “buy” the youngster. Spencer, of no fixed address, first came into contact with the schoolgirl last summer after paying an older woman she knew for sexual services. The youngster, who the court heard came from a dysfunctional background, knew he was financially stable and, desperate for £140 to pay a drugs debt, approached the pensioner offering sexual services. Knowing the girl was just 15 years old, Spencer agreed to meet her and booked a room at the hotel. Judge Lloyd told Spencer: “There was a significant disparity in age between you and this girl. In law she was still a child, and you knew that.” When her ordeal was over, the youngster was physically sick in the hotel bathroom, the court heard. However the girl’s ordeal did not end there as later that day she told an adult she knew about what had happened. But rather than helping her, the woman encouraged the youngster to make contact with Spencer again, offering further sexual services. Judge Heather Lloyd, sentencing, said: “Whether (the girl) consented or not to what happened that day, the sexual activity you engaged in with her was sordid. She felt under pressure from various sources and so she succumbed to sexual activity with you and the woman. “For your own separate purposes you abused her and used her as a commodity.” The court heard Spencer had previously been before the courts for a sentence relating to sending text messages to young teenage girls whose parents owed him money. Judge Lloyd said: “It seems to me that you use your financial stability to trade upon those who do not have financial stability. “You have no remorse. You minimise what you have done and have no insight into the seriousness of what you have done. “You blame (the girl) and you believe you are the victim in all this.” A spokesman for Lancashire police said: “These were despicable offences committed against a vulnerable victim, made all the more sinister by Spencer’s insistence of innocence. This considerable custodial sentence reflects the depravity of what he has done. “I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of the victim and to the hard work of the investigative team and our partners at the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case to court and securing his conviction.”