Update: Jailed for 23 months – 10 years on the sex offenders register and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years December 2017 Teenage girl thought boyfriend was cheating after seeing ‘sex’ messages – from Crook man “grooming” him A girl thought her boyfriend was cheating on her, when she found sexualised messages on his messenger server, a court heard. She told her mother, triggering a chain of events which led to the arrest of the message sender, 53-year-old Stephen Boshier. Durham Crown Court heard Boshier, took the boy under his wing, taking him to the swimming baths, allowing him to play computer games and giving him rewards if he did well at school. Sam Faulks, prosecuting, said it was a form of grooming behaviour, which culminated in Boshier sending the incriminating messages, asking the boy to send him pictures of himself naked and of him performing a sex act on himself. He added if he did the defendant would ‘reward’ him by performing a sex act on him. The messages were only sent by Boshier in early September, but he has been in custody since his arrest. Appearing via video link from nearby Durham Prison, Boshier, of Coniston Crescent, Crook, admitted causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and engaging in sexual communication with a child, at a plea hearing, on October 23. Sentence was adjourned to allow a background report on Boshier and to allow the victim’s family to draw up an impact statement. Friday’s sentencing hearing was told the boy’s school work has suffered and he also felt he was “in the wrong” over what happened, but it was only as a result of the investigative process that it was made clear to him he is not to blame. David Callan, mitigating, said Boshier accepted he would receive a custodial sentence and plans to move away from the North-East, back to his native Lincolnshire, on release, to offer “some small comfort” to the victim’s family. Judge Simon Hickey said Boshier was last jailed in 1988, among 17 convictions on his record, but “of note” he was cautioned for publishing obscene articles, allowing his premises to be used for sexual intercourse involving a young teenage girl and indecent assault on a female in 1992. Jailing him for 27 months, the judge said an aggravating feature of this case was, “the series of grooming acts, effectively to soften up this boy.” Boshier was barred from ever working with children or vulnerable adults, and was made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and registration as a sex offender, both for ten years.