Police are warning parents to make sure their children know the dangers of accepting strangers as friends on social network sites such as Facebook following the conviction of a Dover man.

Peter Jenkins, 31, of Westbury Road, Dover was sentenced to two-and-a-half years by Canterbury Crown Court on November 2 for grooming a 14-year-old boy.

Jenkins (pictured left) was arrested in April this year, and following a lengthy police investigation he admitted sexually grooming the boy after sending him a friend request on Facebook using a false identity.

Fortunately the boy became suspicious and raised the alarm and police carried out a warrant at Jenkins’ home address. He was charged with the offence and remanded in custody.

The court decided that the 206 days he spent in custody on remand will count towards his two-and-a-half year sentence.

He was also given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for 10 years effective until November 2 2020. Breach of the order is punishable with up to five years imprisonment.

PC Craig Ransley who investigated the case said: “Kent Police is committed to and will always seek to prosecute anybody who sexually offends against children.

“This also shows that parents and children need to be aware of who they are in contact with and only accept friend requests and communicate with people they know in person and can trust.”

Facebook users can now add a Click CEOP feature on their accounts, which is very useful for children to report anything suspicious: www.facebook.com/clickceop
Parents and children can find more information about internet safety on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection website: http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/