A 44-year-old American man who flew to Wales to ‘marry’ a teenage girl he groomed online has been sentenced to more than 7 years in prison.
Jacob Ewing, of Hubert, North Carolina, forced a young girl from Gwent, Wales to perform ‘degrading’ acts on herself and watch him masturbate online.
The girl – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was turning 16 when Ewing flew to the UK to ‘be with her’, even bringing wedding rings.
He was promptly arrested at Cardiff Airport, where officers found disturbing paedophilic images, including one of a baby being raped.
He was also carrying a knife and a wooden club. Today, Judge Celia Hughes jailed Ewing for seven years and eight months at Newport Crown Court.
In total, he was sentenced for 13 offences, including causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He also may be deported during his sentence if the Home Office decides to.
Judge Hughes said the two met online, where he told the girl he was a ‘paedophile hunter’ and a Christian.
He convinced her to let him watch her fall asleep while they were live online, and in the morning told her he had masturbated while she slept.
She told the police she had been disturbed by this, she kept in contact with the defendant. In the months following, he began to ‘control her life’.
The court heard the girl’s parents did not know who she was speaking to, and she initially told them she was speaking to someone local and of her age.
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Judge Hughes said: ‘He began to control her, being alternately kind and then unpleasant to her, including saying she shouldn’t sleep covered up at night, even when she was cold.
‘At one point she saw that the defendant had her initials tattooed on his chest.’
The judge said he ‘directed her behaviour online’ and made her watch him perform sex acts on himself more than 20 times.
‘The defendant said he would come to the UK as she was soon to be 16, so they could get married and have children,’ the court heard.
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The police were tipped off about Ewing by the US authorities, and the girl’s parents were informed.
Judge Hughes said: ‘A sheath knife and a wooden cosh were found in the defendant’s luggage on arrival at the airport – I really fear to what use the defendant might have put those weapons bearing in mind he was planning to meet a teenage girl he had groomed and controlled.’
The judge said the girl and her family have been ‘devastated’ by Ewing’s actions. Ewing had told probation officers he had ‘permission’ from the girls’ mum to act as he did.
Sentencing Ewing, the judge said: ‘You have portrayed yourself as the victim and haven’t taken responsibility for your actions. Fortunately, you were stopped at the airport.’
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