Newark man admits stalking teen girl through Xbox and social media
A man who sent messages to a teenage girl through gaming consoles and social media for almost three years admitted stalking.
Liam Rogers’ victim estimated that on some days she received up to 100 messages.
Rogers, 24, of Fenton Close, Newark, pleaded guilty to stalking — which caused serious alarm and distress — in an appearance at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.
Magistrates heard Rogers started messaging the teen through Xbox in 2018 and, for almost three years, continued to send abusive messages over social media.
Sanjay Jareth, prosecuting, read a victim statement on the girl's behalf.
“He was messaging my account as he stated he did not have a microphone, this was just a normal conversation about the game,” the statement read.
Rogers told the girl a relative had been suffering from cancer, which turned out to be a lie.
“Due to losing people myself because of cancer, I told the male I no longer want him to talk to me,” it went on.
The messages got more abusive and Rogers called the girl derogatory names.
Her statement read: “I also asked him to leave me alone, which he has not done.”
Mr Jareth said the girl’s studies had been affected by the persistent messages.
He said: “She has had to block about 50 accounts, a 14-year-old does not need this type of contact directed towards her and she deserves to be compensated.
“It has caused her to change some of her lifestyle.”
In defence, the court was told it had been nearly a year since the defendant contacted had the girl.
Contact stopped in February 2021, before the police became involved in June the same year.
Rogers will be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on February 10.