A Northwich man who escaped being jailed despite a string of sex offences against a 14-year-old girl has again been allowed to walk free.

Jordan Ashley Webb, 22, of Church Road, had sex with the girl in his car and at his home after they got in touch through social media.

He pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual activity with a child, but was only given a community order at Chester Crown Court in January.

Expert evidence revealed Webb had a mental age much younger than 22, with an IQ of 55 putting him in the lowest 0.1% of the population.

'Unduly lenient'

However, his case was back in court on Thursday (March 17) after solicitor general Robert Buckland QC attacked the sentence as ‘unduly lenient’.

But while Lord Justice Gross accepted the community order was ‘lenient’, he said it was justifiably so.

“We wish to say nothing which undermines the seriousness of conduct of this nature,” said the judge. “It is a criminal offence and will be taken very seriously by the court.”

But he added: “It wouldn’t be right to interfere with the sentence.”

Pregnancy fears

The court heard Webb and the girl had sex several times but it only came to light when she told a teacher, fearing she may have become pregnant.

Her school informed her mother, who called police and Webb was arrested.

In an interview, he said he thought she was 17 or 18, but later admitted he knew she was underage.

Deciding against a prison term, the crown court judge took into account a wealth of evidence about Webb’s mental abilities.

Dyslexia and ADHD

He suffered from dyslexia and ADHD and struggled with very poor memory and an ‘extremely slow processing speed’, the court heard.

At the Court of Appeal, lawyers for Mr Buckland argued that the crown court judge was wrong not to jail Webb.

There had been an eight-year age gap between Webb and his victim and an element of ‘grooming’.

But rejecting the arguments, Lord Justice Gross said there was no evidence Webb had ‘groomed’ the girl for sex.

'Very immature'

He added: “It is fair to say that he suffered from learning difficulties and an extremely low level of intellectual functioning.

“On any view, he was a very immature 22-year-old, so the age disparity is not as significant as it may at first appear.”

The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Supperstone and Judge Paul Farrer QC, refused to impose a jail term.