Dad-of-two managing director, 43, is jailed for abusing girl, 14, he met on Snog.fm after she outed him at family dinner
A DAD-OF-TWO company director who abused a 14-year-old girl after grooming her online has been jailed after she outed him as a paedo at a family dinner.
Web designer Gareth Hughes, then 36, lied about his age to seduce the besotted teen on Snog.fm - which urges teens to rate other users 'snog, marry or avoid'.
The pair had a secret sexual relationship for four years between 2012 and 2016.
Pervert Hughes would pick the girl up from school in his Mazda 6 and shower her with gifts before taking her back to his flat in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Inside the apartment he filmed himself having sex with her and stored them in a file on his computer labelled 'Filth'.
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His crimes unravelled when the victim - now 21 - invited him to a dinner at her family home before confronting him with a letter about their sexual encounters.
She later told police: "I was sexually and emotionally abused by Gareth Hughes he was 22 years older and more experienced than me - I was so young and vulnerable I wasn’t even sure how to stand up for myself.
"When the abuse started I was beginning my GCSEs I was often late to school because I couldn't get out of bed. I think this was a symptom of depression - I would go days without showering, I would binge eat to deal with the trauma of abuse.
"I have nightmares about the abuse, sometimes I have flashbacks during consensual sexual encounters. It has caused me emotional damage that will last as long as I live."
PERVERT ABUSED TWO OTHER GIRLS
Following the report, it emerged Hughes had also abused two other schoolgirl victims.
Hughes, now 43, was jailed for six years and eight months after admitting a string of offences at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, eight counts of making an indecent image of a child, two counts of distributing an indecent photo of a child and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.
Prosecuting, Simone Flynn said: "They would meet three times a week he would pick her up straight from school and they would have sex, he would record what they were doing and take photographs of her lying naked on the bed.
"She continued to strip and perform sexual acts on Skype, she asked him to use a condom, but he would refuse to do so saying it hurt, he would buy her sex toys that he would use on her."
Police attended Hughes workplace in 2016 and seized two computers and an iPhone which contained indecent images of children and extreme pornography totalling 260 still and moving images, including one of a five-year-old.
Sentencing, Judge Paul Lawton told Hughes: “It is overwhelmingly clear from the evidence that you have a sexual interest in young teenage girls.
What is snog.fm?
Snog.fm is a website inspired by the BBC Three TV show Snog, Marry, Avoid.
It allows users to say whether they would snog, marry or avoid other users.
After it launched eight years ago, it branded itself as 'a way for young people to break the ice and interact without the awkwardness of traditional dating sites'.
It became popular with teenagers, and at its peak attracted more than 1.5m page views a day.
"You are a highly educated but manipulative man and you have a lack of insight into your offending."
After the case Det Con Jon Greenslade of Greater Manchester Police said: “Hughes is a predatory paedophile who targeted a young girl less than half his age.
"He was fully aware of the girl’s age but decided to pursue the relationship nevertheless – making indecent pictures and videos of her."
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