Woman, 25, kidnapped and sexually assaulted schoolgirl after grooming her on social media

A WOMAN kidnapped and sexually assaulted a schoolgirl after grooming her on social media.

Phoebe Pearce, 25, first targeted the victim when she was 14 after messaging her on Facebook.

She lured the girl away from her home in Wales and sexually abused her.

Pearce admitted grooming, abduction and sexual activity with a child but walked free from court.

The paedo then got back in touch with the victim on Snapchat and popular gaming platform Twitch after she turned 16.

Newport Crown Court heard the girl’s mum found out and told the police, who arrested Pearce.

She has now been jailed for 17 months after she admitted possession of an indecent photograph of a child and two counts of being in breach of a sexual harm prevention order.

Recorder David Harris renewed five-year sexual harm prevention order.

Sentencing, he said: “You met a child following a series of sexual grooming and disobeyed the orders made against you.”

The court heard the ordeal began in 2022 when Pearce contacted the “vulnerable” girl on social media.

Her mum found out and warned the predator off but Pearce continued to send her sexual messages.

She then lured the girl away from her home to a park where she sexually assaulted her.

Pearce was arrested, with police finding a message on her phone about the victim that read: “She’s youngish but I don’t care.”

The judge said at the time that her vile crimes would normally lead to a “substantial period of imprisonment.”

He added: “I am satisfied that having met the girl you became infatuated with her very quickly.

“You ignored every piece of advice and every order you were made subject to and that culminated in the abduction.”

But he said Pearce would not be in prison long enough to benefit from a sex offender programme if he jailed her.

The judge instead handed her a three-year community order and made her subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

Gwent Police