Law student breaks down in tears as he's jailed for grooming boy, 13, on PlayStation and trying to meet him at hotel

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A law student sobbed as he was jailed for grooming a 13-year-old boy on PlayStation and booking a hotel to meet him.

Ashley Brooks, 25, was speaking to the teenager for 18 months before arranging the visit to Birmingham.

However, police intercepted the boy’s phone when Brooks called him and asked the police if he could ‘say goodbye’, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

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The police told him no, but Brooks then turned up at the house and asked if the boy was there, before apologising and leaving.

The court heard that he had earlier come to the attention of police in Northern Ireland after speaking to a 10-year-old boy whilst pretending to be a teenage girl online.

Brooks, of Bury, pleaded guilty to being an adult attempting to meet a boy following grooming, and was jailed for 24 months.

Neil Usher, prosecuting, said Brooks befriended the lad in July 2020 and began grooming him over the PlayStation network before they exchanged numbers on WhatsApp.

On three different occasions, Brooks travelled by train from Bury to Birmingham to meet the boy.

In April last year, officers in Northern Ireland became aware of an account called ‘Ash’ speaking with a boy over PlayStation, Mr Usher said.

“He was initially posing as a 13-year-old girl and lied about his age,” he told the court.

“Following the enquiries made in Northern Ireland, in October last year, police attended the defendant’s address and seized his phone and PlayStation.

“They were examined and conversations were found between the defendant and the boy.”

On January 5 this year, the police were at the boy’s house with his parents, in which he told them he was friends with Brooks and had been