A POLICE community support officer has been jailed after pleading guilty to sexual offences against a child from Bolton.

Joshua Paterson, aged 27, befriended his victim through social media before joining the force. Paterson, of Meadow Drive in Northwich, appeared at Chester Crown Court. The court heard he had started a relationship with the teenager when he was aged 22 and the victim was 15. He first took her to Moses Gate Country Park.

Prosecuting, Simon Parry said: “Within days of first contacting her he had arranged to pick her up and take her to a park. On that first meeting he placed his hands down her pants. On another occasion she travelled to his home in Winsford and stopped there for two nights – on both occasions they had sex.”

The court heard that Paterson picked the girl up from school on two occasions and even took her to a party where they had sex. On another occasion he had sex with his victim after school in a park.

In a victim impact statement, she said: “I was having nightmares every night. Four years on I still have trouble sleeping. I often have panic attacks in the night. It left me scared of leaving the flat. I’m trying my hardest not to let my mental state affect what I want to achieve in life.”

Defending, Patrick Williamson said Paterson, who admitted eight counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of sexual assault, lacked ‘emotional maturity’ and had suffered from mental health problems since the age of 12.

Judge Patrick Thompson sentenced Paterson to four years and eight months in prison.