Man Jailed after Fathering a Child with a 15 Year Old Girl
A 21 year old man has been jailed after his appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show exposed the fact that he had had sex with two underage girls, even fathering a child with one.
Kenny Smith, of Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of having sexual activity with each girl. Furthermore, Smith was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order was also made against him.
Jeremy Kyle Show
Gloucester Crown Court heard that Smith’s offences against the one of the teenagers, the mother of his child, were only revealed when a second fifteen year old girl was interviewed by police about her own relationship with him.
The second fifteen year old told police during her interview that Smith had fathered a child with the teenager. She added that they had even appeared on Jeremy Kyle Show where a DNA test was carried out, however it is unclear if producers of the show were aware of the girl’s age at the time. The show has apparently been contacted by a representative for the Daily Mail to shed some light on the situation but has not yet responded.
Kerry Barker, prosecuting, told the court how Smith had started his relationship with the second teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons, in May 2014. At this time the girl was fourteen years old.
Involvement of social services
After numerous visits to her house despite multiple warnings, including an overnight stay, the girl’s mother became concerned. The court heard the girl’s mother told police that she had been under the assumption they had stayed in separate rooms, but she found them in bed together. Smith had insisted he had not touched her daughter.
Ms Barker said:
‘Social services became involved and told the girl she was not to have any form of sexual relationship with him.’
It was at this time that the girl started staying away from home for 3-4 days at a time and lying about her whereabouts. On one occasion the court heard that police brought her home after she had not been seen by her mother for four days. When she arrived at the family home a love bite was visible on her neck.
The girl then admitted in a police interview that she was indeed having a sexual relationship with Smith. She told police this was ‘because he was kind to her, comforted her and bought her nice things.’ However, she also went on to tell police that Smith would often become angry and jealous and he ‘liked to be in control’ of her. She added that Smith would sometimes even become physical, grabbing her by the neck if he caught her on the phone to another person.
Ms Barker went on to say:
‘He wouldn’t let her go to parties, wear make-up or talk to people her own age. He didn’t like her talking to boys at school and as a result of his control her attendance at school deteriorated badly.’
Denial & refusal to comment
Telling the court that Smith had originally denied assaulting the teenager but refused to comment on whether or not they had had sex, Ms Barker added:
‘She was interviewed and told them she was not the first girl he had treated this way. She said she knew a girl who’d had a baby with him and that they had been on the Jeremy Kyle show.
‘As a consequence of that the police made further investigations and obtained footage from the TV show. It showed him appearing together with a girl and her mother.
‘The girl had given birth at 15 and it was his child. The producers of that programme had obtained DNA evidence that it was his baby.
‘That girl was interviewed by the police and said she’d had a relationship with Smith when she was 14 and he was 18.
‘They had first met in November 2011 and the relationship had quickly become sexual. They had full sex every couple of days. He was her first sexual partner.
‘She said he would buy her sweets, chocolate, crisps and pop. But as the relationship developed he would start to control her movements. He would stop her going out with friends and family.
‘She found she was pregnant in April 2012 and she gave birth in December. He was present when she gave birth and he was named on the birth certificate.’
‘My life is better again’
Gloucester Crown Court heard how the first teenager, when interviewed by police, refused to give a statement against Smith or divulge any information about their relationship.
However, describing how controlling he had been, the second girl was more open with her response. She said:
‘He did not want me to go to school because there were boys there. I ended up not going to school and missing all my friends because I put Kenny before everything.
‘My life is better again now that Kenny is not in it. I can see my friends and go where I like.’
Describing how Smith was raised in a family with a ‘lack of emotional stability’ and ‘with difficulties’, Gareth James, defending, said:
‘All of that will have had some effect on his ability to form and maintain relationships,’ said Mr James. ‘It was difficult for him to form more age-appropriate relationships.
‘It is clearly a worrying situation when a young man finds himself in not one but two separate under-age inappropriate relationships which have each lasted over a year.
‘He does not seem to have learned from the first relationship when he became a father, something he is proud of. He has been through the family courts to secure contact with that child.
‘I fully concede these are serious offences and that they are aggravated by each other.’
Sentencing
Sentencing Smith for a total of four years and four months for the four offences against the first girl and a concurrent sentence of five years and ten months for the second, Judge Michael Smith said:
‘It doesn’t matter that the girls were willing. That is irrelevant,’
‘These charges are about the exploitation of children. When you moved onto the second girl it was deliberate and exploitative. You groomed both girls’
Sexual Abuse Claims – Expert Advice
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For an open and friendly conversation about your situation, and to find out how we can assist you relevant to your individual experience, call 0800 888 6 888 or email
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Source: Daily Mail
