A 17-year-old boy who "traded" sexual acts with a younger girl has been spared jail after pleading guilty to two sex offences.

Barrow Youth Court heard yesterday that from December 2015 to January 2016 the youth from Barrow engaged in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl.

The court was told that the teenager engaged in one act of sex with the child in December, and another sex act in January.

District Judge Gerald Chalk said he was "deeply concerned" that the boy did not fully understand what he had done was wrong.

He said: "You have said very little to me that illustrates [you understand] the serious situation that you are in.

"Your failure to keep appointments with the court on July 5 and July 8 really worries me.

"You're sorry you are in here, you are sorry you are in court but I suspect you think you have done nothing wrong."

The court heard that the girl had been manipulated over a period of several months through social media such as Facebook.

The youth, who was unrepresented in court, would block or delete the girl, then re-add her on the popular site as a way of playing mind games.

Judge Chalk said: "I think you did that so you could have sex.

"Sex should not be traded like that.

"You do not seem to understand that you have done serious harm to another person."

The judge, who gave the teenager credit for pleading guilty, told the defendant he was not imposing a prison sentence, despite what the court had heard of his behaviour.

He said: "I am not going to lock you up. It's not because you have convinced me but because I'm going to give you a chance."

The teenager was given a 12-month intensive referral order to the south Cumbria youth offender panel.

He was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, was placed on the sexual offenders register also for five years and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge.

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