Alex Rice: Man jailed for sexual activity with girl, 13

Alex Rice, of Windsor Close, Welwyn was jailed after admitting to engaging in sexual activity with the girl on three separate occasions.

A court heard how Rice claimed he thought the 13-year-old girl from Maidenhead -- who he groomed on Snapchat -- was actually 16-years-old.

However, after the two occasions in which he had oral sex with her, he added her name and age to a list on a note on his phone full of his ‘sexual conquests’.

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Condemning him to more than a year behind bars, Her Honour Judge Nott slammed Rice, now 23, for his lack of remorse and his ‘derogatory’ attitude towards women.

Snapchat grooming

Prosecuting, Zarah Dickinson told Reading Crown Court that the offences occurred between February and March 2019.

Rice, who was 20 at the time, did not know the 13-year-old girl and messaged her on Snapchat because he was “bored”.

They started talking and Rice drove to Berkshire to pick her up from her grandmother’s house in his car on Valentine’s Day in 2019.

He drove her to a ‘dark’ and ‘cameraless’ location where they talked for up to four hours before he kissed her.

The court later heard how this was the girl’s first kiss.

Rice and the girl met up twice more and the pair had oral sex on both occasions.

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As Ms Dickinson was telling the court of his crimes, Rice was bent over with his head in hands in the dock.

Throughout their time knowing each other, Rice would tell the girl to ‘be careful’ about who she told about their meet-ups.

He would send her sexual messages before each meeting and even started sending the girl’s female friends -- who were also 13 -- pictures of himself in his boxer shorts.

But police were informed about Rice’s sexual activities in May 2019 when the girl’s father found out about their meetings and reported the then 20-year-old.

Reading Crown Court.

Rice gave a voluntary interview to police in August 2019 where he denied allegations he had been involved with the 13-year-old sexually and claimed he thought she was 16 or 17 years old.

But police seized his phone and found sexual messages from Rice to the girl, as well as a note featuring a list of names of girls he had had sexual relations with.

At the bottom of the list was the girl’s name with ‘13-year-old’ in brackets next to it.

He later admitted to three counts of sexual activity with a child.

'I lost confidence'

In a statement, the girl said she made Rice aware of her age and that she knew their being together was ‘not quite right’ but was not aware it was illegal.

She explained how the incidents had left her feeling and revealed she has had to miss school after suffering from panic attacks.

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The girl, now 16, said: “I find I have lost the trust of my friends. I feel out of place and I don’t know why.

“I lost a lot of confidence. It has caused me a huge amount of stress and worry.

“I want to make sure others can’t be harmed and to avoid what I have experienced.”

'One shot'

Defending, Kate Hare said Rice’s offences were “out of character” and that he was “incredibly ashamed” of what he did.

“There is much more to Mr Rice than the offences for which he is before your honour today”, Ms Hare said.

Rice used Snapchat to groom his victim

“He is someone who will not be back before the court again as he has had no further issues with police since [the incidents].

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“I ask respectfully he is given one shot to show he can turn his life around.”

'No remorse'

But Her Honour Judge Nott waved away the defence’s plea for a suspended sentence and told Rice his crimes were “very serious.”

The judge alleged Rice “deliberately” chose Valentine’s Day to take the girl out for the first time and it was “clear” to her that the 23-year-old knew the girl was 13 at the time of his offending.

Judge Nott said: “You asked her not to block you on various forms of social media.

“I can be quite sure you knew she was 13 because you had a list of conquests going back a number of years in which you spoke of women in quite derogatory terms.

“I’m sure she was flattered by the attention you, a much older, sophisticated person in her eyes, gave her by driving that distance to see her.

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“This was not spontaneous offending by you. You were grooming your victim and you knew you would be able to manipulate her into that sexual activity with you.

“You didn’t really care about the obvious damage your actions were going to have on your victim.”

Appealing to the judge, Rice wrote a letter to Her Honour prior to his sentence.

Addressing the letter, Judge Nott said: “I have read the letter you wrote me and it is a file of information about how you have ruined your own life.

“You talk about losing your job. Not once in that letter do you mention your victim and your damage towards her.

“There is no real remorse here. You are very sorry for yourself because you got caught but you don’t show any remorse for your victim.”

Judge Nott handed Rice a 32-month prison sentence for three counts of sexual activity with a child.

He will serve half of this in custody before being eligible for release.

Rice was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, October 13.