A man who groomed a 15-year-old girl has been handed a suspended sentence and put on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.

Daniel Michael John Oliphant, who was 18 at the time of the offence, contacted the girl on Facebook and sent her messages calling her ’so cute’, ’adorable’, ’stunning’, and ’the girl of my dreams’ and said that he loved her and wanted to get close to her.

He started messaging her on October 9, 2018, and then met up with the girl who later told a friend which led to his arrest.

Oliphant, now 21, who is unemployed but previously worked in IT, was found guilty after a jury trial of grooming but acquitted of two counts of indecent assault on a child and two of gross indecency with a person under 16.

At the Court of General Gaol Delivery, Deemster Graeme Cook sentenced him to six months in custody, suspended for 12 months and also made him the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for seven years.

The order will prohibit Oliphant, who lives at Tromode Woods, Braddan, from using any form of social media or messaging applications without informing his supervising officer.

It will also forbid him from deleting any online conversations and he must provide his supervising officer with his passwords for any devices or accounts he holds.

He must also notify the authorities regarding any travel plans and was also made the subject of a 12-month suspended sentence supervision order.

Prosecuting advocate James Robinson read out victim impact statements from the girl and her mother.

In her statement the girl, who was described as having mental health issues, said: ’I don’t trust anyone and I feel they are going to do bad stuff and will manipulate me. I sleep to escape the reality of it all.

’I have nightmares about Daniel and keep seeing his face.

’I saw him drive past and I started crying and felt like I was having a full-on breakdown.’

The girl’s mother said in her victim impact statement that her daughter had ’mentioned suicidal thoughts’ and she had lost all confidence.

The mother’s statement said: ’I just want to stop someone else going through what she has gone through.’

However, it was accepted that part of the statements related to the allegations of which Oliphant was found not guilty.

Mr Robinson said that Oliphant was still denying the grooming offence and had launched an appeal against his conviction saying that he was the victim of a conspiracy involving the girl and his previous partner, and that he had had no sexual intention.

Deemster Cook was critical of Oliphant’s lack of acceptance of the jury verdict saying that the jury’s verdict on the grooming had been based on records of social media messages.

Defence advocate Jim Travers said that the offences were committed three years ago now and his client had not breached bail during that time and nothing had been found on any of his devices.

’In the three-year period nothing has come to light that suggests he’s an ongoing risk,’ said the advocate.

Mr Travers went on to say that Oliphant had no previous convictions and handed in character references.

Deemster Cook told Oliphant while passing sentence: ’Your age and the victim’s were very similar but she was still a child and you were an adult.

’You were aware of how old she was at an early stage and that she had mental health problems.’

The Deemster said that, had Oliphant been found guilty of the other offences, he would have been jailed.

He was also ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs at a rate of £10 per week.