A "MANIPULATIVE and controlling" sex predator, caged for grooming and abusing a vulnerable schoolgirl, had his sentence upheld by top judges.
Joshua Bryan Harris, 20, of Church Avenue, Broomfield, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court in June to be locked up for 40 months.
He admitted three counts of sexual activity with the 14-year-old, who was left psychologically scarred by her ordeal.
Mrs Justice Cox said Harris "groomed" his victim via social networking sites and BlackBerry messaging, before they had "consensual sex".
On May 7 last year, the girl agreed to take Harris, then just shy of his 19th birthday, to her home for "consensual sex" in her living room while her parents were away.
She told friends after the meeting, and her parents advised her that she should stop seeing Harris.
Nonetheless when Harris sent a text message to the girl on August 26, saying he was in Heybridge, she agreed to meet him again on the condition there was no sex.
The two met in an alleyway off Limebrook Way, but when Harris offered her a cigarette only then to advise she should not be seen smoking, the two wandered to the woods beside West Maldon Community Centre in Sunbury Way.
There at a secluded bench, Harris pulled down his grey jogging bottoms and "forced" her into sexual acts. Minutes later, he persuaded her to have unprotected sex, London's Appeal Court heard.
The girl was left distraught, said the judge, and became terrified that she would fall pregnant. She had also started to self-harm, the court heard.
Mrs Justice Cox, sitting with Lord Justice Elias and Mr Justice Simon, said Harris persisted in pressuring his victim for sex despite her making it clear she was not interested.
Harris, a former Chelmer Valley High School pupil, was normally a "decent and hardworking young man," the court heard, but had "let himself down badly".
"This was manipulative and controlling behaviour by a young man who took advantage of her immaturity," said Mrs Justice Cox.
"His conduct reveals a high degree of culpability.
"The victim's personal statement reveals the serious effects of his actions on her.
"She felt ashamed and confused and there were incidents of self-harm.
"The law is there to protect young girls from themselves and from being used and exploited for sex in this way, " the judge said.
At the hearing on December 17, she concluded: "The judge was entirely right to sentence as he did. Forty months cannot be said to be manifestly excessive or wrong in principle."
