The mum of a young girl has spoken of her horror at discovering her daughter was being groomed by an older man.

Joss Hellem, 23, was jailed for six years and eight months on Monday after messaging the teenager and pressuring her into sex acts.

Read the full story from court HERE

The woman, who cannot be named to maintain her daughter’s anonymity, has recalled the moment she learnt her daughter had been speaking to Hellem, and has now told parents of the importance of checking their kids' phones.

She told The Northern Echo: “I knew she was messaging someone saved in her phone as ‘shaggy’.

“They were messaging on Snapchat. Looking back now she was very vulnerable.

“She would tell me she was going out for a walk. It turned out she had been meeting him and messaging him constantly.

Joss Hellem groomed the girl, pressuring her into sex acts and sending him naked photos.Joss Hellem groomed the girl, pressuring her into sex acts and sending him naked photos. (Image: DURHAM CONSTABULARY)

“I turned and asked her ‘who’s Shaggy?’. I asked her what had happened and she told me the full story.

“To her he was her first love, her first boyfriend. He groomed her.

“I rang the police and they arrested him straight away. He admitted it all.”

Hellem, of Secker Place, Newton Aycliffe, previously admitted eleven charges including meeting a child following sexual grooming and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He showed no emotion as he was jailed at Durham Crown Court on Monday (September 16).

The court heard of Hellem's horrific acts including forcing the girl into sex acts and pressuring her to send naked photos when he threatened to cut off the "relationship".

The mum has now issued a warning to parents to check their phones, no matter how open of a relationship they have with their kids.

She added: “I thought she was speaking to someone her own age.

“As parents we have to check their phones, you can’t always be sure what you’re being told is 100 per cent the truth, especially when someone might be telling them not to say anything.

“When you say they’re chatting with someone you never think it could be someone older.

“We have got a really good relationship, but it shows they can still hide things. It’s scary how easy it is that she’d gone out to meet him.”

His victim has left the house just five times since his offending came to light, the most recent to visit court on Monday where she and her mum wept and embraced as he was sent down.

“My daughter won’t go out”, the mum continued. “She has left the house five times, only with me. 

“I think she’s coming to terms with that he didn’t want a relationship. She has come to realise that he was just using her.

“This is going to affect her for the rest of her life.

“She said that she feels ashamed because she’s had conversations that she should never have had to have with her mam.

“I just feel anger towards him, but I am glad it didn’t go on for any longer.”

Judge Adams rejected Hellem’s claims he had “caved” to the girl’s “pressure” and “flirting,” saying: “You were the adult; she was just a young child.”

Speaking outside court her mum added: “I hope he rots in there.

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“He tried to put the blame on her saying he’d caved to her flirting, but the Judge pulled him up on that.”

Hellem will have to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and is subject to a 20-year sexual harm prevention order and life-long restraining order not to approach his victim or her mum.

He will serve half of his 80-month sentence before being eligible for release on parole.