Jonathan Cooper – Blyth Bridge

A man who groomed an underage girl and sent explicit pictures to her has been locked up.

Aldi worker Jonathan Cooper committed his sex crimes almost a decade ago when he was in his 30s.

He lied to his victim, insisting he was 19 before sending sexual content to her.

Cooper, now 43, was caught when the girl’s mum spotted some of his messages to her daughter.

Prosecutor Oliver King told the court: “The defendant used Snapchat on a Samsung phone and added a girl.

“They exchanged many messages of a sexual nature, snaps – or photos – of each other, and the defendant sent explicit photos of himself and requested for her to send [explicit] videos.

“Her mum saw some of the messages and Snapchat deleted his account.

“He was arrested and interviewed and denied these matters. There was grooming behaviour beforehand.

“The defendant was dishonest about his age and there was a significant disparity in age.”

The offences were committed in 2017

Cooper, of The Avenue, in Blythe Bridge, was convicted of two counts of causing a child to engage in a sexual act, causing a child to watch a sexual act, and engaging in sexual communications with a child.

Cooper was jailed for 52 months and was handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.