A PAEDOPHILE who groomed a schoolgirl for sex was last night behind bars as he started a two-year prison sentence.

Robert Rose told the teenager he was worried about the her feeling uncomfortable when he intimately touched her.

He stopped when she said she was nervous – but had sex with her when she returned to his home the following day.

Rose, 25, was arrested after the youngster told her mother what had happened and her angry family confronted him.

Police were called to a disturbance at Rose's home in North Yorkshire expecting to deal with a public order offence.

Instead, they arrested shop worker Rose on child sex allegations when the girl's family revealed his secret.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he has a history of improper conduct with children, going back to when he was 17.

Eight years ago, Rose touched a 13-year-old intimately and exposed himself to girls aged nine and 13 for a dare.

Prosecutor Richard Bennett told the court that Rose met his latest victim just days before they had sex earlier this year.

Carl Swift, mitigating, said: “There is no suggestion there was coercion or beguilement or any threats of violence.

“Although she cannot in law grant consent, this is not the kind of case where the defendant has forced himself on her.”

The girl told police that felt nervous as Rose touched her, and he stopped when she told him her feelings.

He then took a shower and went for a job interview, but the following day, the youngster returned to his home.

Rose, of Constantine Avenue, Catterick Garrison, admitted two charges of sexual activity with a child.

He was also put on the sex offenders' register for ten years and banned from having unsupervised contact with under-18s.

Mr Swift urged Judge George Moorhouse to consider a suspended prison sentence so Rose could get treatment in the community.

He said probation workers felt his risk to girls would be better managed with a non-custodial sentence.

“The way to address the risk is to have intense, structured intervention,” Mr Swift told Judge Moorhouse.

“This is his first conviction and this would be his first spell of imprisonment.

“There is specific reference in the probation report to the difficulties Mr Rose would have in a custodial setting.

“The report deals fully with Mr Rose's background and his social circumstances, and clearly the conclusion is that he is a very immature, who through his immaturity finds himself in situations like this.”