A 34-year-old former teacher ended up kissing and cuddling a young girl who he had turned to for company when he was feeling low.

Samuel Webb ended the relationship with the 13-year-old girl after exchanging more than 2,000 text messages, but it came to light when her father received a £250 bill for her mobile phone.

Webb, formerly of Approach Road, Broadstairs, but now living in Oxford, admitted one charge of sexual activity with a child.

He appeared at Canterbury Crown Court and was given a 36-month community order with supervision and a requirement he attends the Thames Valley sex offenders' treatment programme and an activity requirement with regard to his future employment, education and training.

He will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Peter Alcock, for Webb, said Webb could never teach again and was working in a bar in Oxford. He bitterly regretted the offence.

He had wrestled with his conscience and knew it was wrong because she was only 13. He was unable to stop because he relied on her company so much after the break up of his marriage.

Sentencing Webb, Judge Timothy Nash said what he did was quite unacceptable and said young girls had to be protected from themselves.