A MAN who "stalked" a child for two years and treated her as a "sex toy" has been jailed.

Graham Slawson performed sex acts as he sent inappropriate texts to the youngster time and time again, York Crown Court heard.

Anne Richardson, prosecuting, said he began when the youngster was at primary school.

"He was a man emotionally manipulating this young girl," she said. "It became a recurring feature of her life."

In her personal statement, the child told the court the messages caused her to self-harm.

"He should have treated me as a child, not a sex toy," she said.

Mrs Richardson said the child finally broke silence and told a relative about the "onslaught" of messages when he asked her to show him her bared breasts.

Slawson denied the charge for two years, but when the girl arrived at York Crown Court to give evidence against him, he changed his plea.

She told the court: "This was the culmination of two years of worry and anxiety (for me) he could have prevented."

"That reflects on your true character," the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Slawson.

"She was obviously in a terrible position being in effect stalked on her own phone," the judge said.

"She knew what was happening and that it was wrong, which showed she had more morals at that age than you do."

Slawson, 60, of Low Mill Close, Badger Hill, York, admitted sexual communications with a child.

He was jailed for 15 months, and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 16 years to protect children from him.

He will be on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

For Slawson, Kevin Saunders quoted a probation officer's report, saying: "He is extremely ashamed of his behaviour and appeared to demonstrate genuine remorse."

He handed in references praising how Slawson cared for children, and a report from Safer Lives, an organisation specialising in rehabilitating sex offenders, which Slawson had contacted so he could tackle his behaviour.

Slawson was now "acutely aware of the distress" his actions had caused the child and he wanted to repair the damage he had caused, said the defence barrister.

Although the police had downloaded 800 pages of messages from the child's phone, Slawson had not contacted her continually.

It was "episodic" contact, said the defence barrister, adding there were "11 chapters" of messages.

Slawson had no previous convictions.

On hearing that Slawson's wife was standing by him and didn't believe the youngster's story, the judge said she should be told that Slawson had admitted to a probation officer after his change of plea that he had performed sex acts while messaging the child.