Man swapped naked pictures with girl, 14

A 19-YEAR-OLD man narrowly avoided prison after admitting downloading naked images of a 14-year-old girl and sending her similar images of himself.

Michael Melia, of Hartshead Street, Lees, pleaded guilty to five charges of making indecent photographs of a child at Oldham Magistrates’ Court. He was sentenced to a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

The court heard how Melia was in a “virtual relationship” with the 14-year-old girl, whom he met on the internet. She willingly sent him pictures of herself and he did likewise, between November last year and this February. The wo had been talking for around a year.

Kerry Bell, prosecuting, said in December the girl’s father spoke to her about somebody she had met on the internet. He could see she had naked pictures of a man and sent naked pictures to a man. She sent them, but not under pressure. But at 19 he should have known better.”

Melia was in court also accused of breaching a restraining order for an harassment offence admitted earlier this year, against a different victim. Melia had made more than 80 attempts to contact the other party, an adult.

Magistrates warned Melia they were considering an immediate custodial sentence, but Nalia Akhtar, defending, said he was of good character before the recent death of his father. The offences had all occurred after this event.

She added: “The victim in this case sent these pictures; he’s at fault because he’s 19 and she’s 14. Other than sending pictures to each other, there is nothing more than that. What would giving him an immediate custodial sentence achieve?

As well as the order, magistrates sentenced Melia to 250 hours of unpaid work, an order to destroy the laptop used for the pictures, and a 30-day sexual offences treatment programme.

Part of Melia’s sexual-harm prevention order bans him from all social media sites unless authorised by police.