A 20-YEAR-old engineering apprentice has been jailed for four years for carrying out a sex attack on a schoolgirl in the Clent Hills after he groomed her over the internet.

Judge Nicholas Webb told Taron Sahota he carried out the sexual assault as soon as he got into the back of his car with the 15-year-old, adding: “That is clearly what you were after”.

Sahota, of Stanley Road, Oldbury, had denied committing a sexual act with a child after grooming and he was convicted after the jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court retired to consider the evidence at the end of his trial.

The panel were told he contacted the girl through social media and she was with a friend when she met up with him at an arranged point.

Sahota then drove the pair to the Clent Hills and when the victim’s friend got out of his car to make a call he carried out the sex attack.

He stopped when she said “no” and when her friend returned he dropped them both off near their homes. But the police were then alerted and Sahota was arrested.

Howard Cohen, defending, stressed Sahota, a man of previous good character, was not a sexual predator adding: “After dialogue on social media lead to an opportunity he took it.

“He accepts courts must demonstrate children need to be protected from adults who behave in an opportunistic way.”

The court was told Sahota was full of remorse for his actions, but the judge told him: “The fact you pleaded not guilty, forcing this girl to give evidence – effectively calling her a liar – makes any expression of remorse less forceful.”

He sent Sahota to a young offender’s institution to begin serving his sentence and further ordered him to register as a sex offender.