A MAN who sent a stream of sexual texts to a 15-year-old girl has been found guilty of having sex with her in a village in Teignbridge.

Jack Hodges had sex with the schoolgirl twice while she was having sleepovers with a friend when he was staying overnight at the same house.

He claimed messages in which he discussed having sex with her were a joke but his denials were rejected after the jury at Exeter Crown Court studied reams of texts.

They included one in which he talked about her coming to his room again and others which mentioned oral sex.

Hodges, aged 24, of Membury Close, Exeter, denied sexual communications with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child but was found guilty.

Judge David Evans adjourned the case for sentence and ordered a report from the probation service. He released Hodges on bail but told him all sentencing options were open when he returns in the new year.

Miss Mary McCarthy, prosecuting, said Hodges started communicating with the girl when she was 14 and met him while visiting another schoolgirl’s home in a village in Teignbridge.

He did not live there but spent a lot of time there, often staying the night in his own room. The girl also had sleepovers at her friend’s house.

He was 20 at the time of the sexual activity during the 2019 summer holidays and September. One of his early messages, sent before she turned 15, said ‘shame you are 14’.

Miss McCarthy said other messages sent when she was 15 shoed him asking her to give him oral sex. Her replies suggested she felt awkward and initially laughed it off but later took part in sexual acts with him.

She said: ‘He repeatedly asked her to come to his room or to come to the house and the time came when she did go to his room. She told police they watched television and he started pulling at her clothing.

‘He was quite determined there was going to be sexual activity and started kissing her and pulling down her clothes.’

Miss McCarthy said it progressed to full intercourse and that he continued pressing her to come over and they had sex on a second occasion. The police were called after the girl’s mother found Hodges’s messages on her daughter’s iPad.

Hodges accepted sending the messages but denied that the girl had ever been to the bedroom where he was staying. He said the sexual references were ‘just jokey’ and were not discussions of what he had done.

Asked about one message to the girl which read ‘come back and let me **** you’, he replied ‘I had a lot to drink, it was a joke. We had not had sex and she knew it was a joke.’