A man from Rochdale has been jailed for a series of sex offences against teenage girls across the United Kingdom

At the time, Scarrott told officers that he was 15-years-old. Further enquiries established that Scarrott was 20-years-old and an investigation was launched. The investigation found that, over a period of six months, Scarrott contacted a number of teenage girls from Wales, Greater Manchester and Northamptonshire using a social media app. In some cases, Scarrott arranged to meet the girls and, during these meetings, engaged in sexual activity. Scarrott was arrested and taken into police custody for questioning. Scarrott was subsequently charged with four counts of sexual communication with a child, four counts of sexual grooming of a child, four counts of sexual activity with a child between the age of 13 and 15, two counts of attempting to meet a child under the age of 16 following grooming and one count of inciting a child aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity. Scarrott pleaded guilty and, on Friday 28 February 2020, he was sentenced at Minshull Street Crown Court to eight years and four months imprisonment. Detective Chief Inspector Philip Key, of GMP Rochdale’s Sunrise team, said: “Scarrott is a paedophile. Despite being aware that his victims were underage, he contacted them with a view to grooming them to meet and engage in sexual activity with him. “I am thankful to the victims for co-operating with the police investigation and assisting with officers’ enquiries – without them, we wouldn’t be here today. “I hope Scarrott’s sentence acts as a warning to offenders that Greater Manchester Police will not tolerate grooming and that specialist officers conduct thorough investigations which bring perpetrators of child sexual abuse to face the justice system.”