Former North university lecturer ‘groomed 13-year-old on web’

Oct 27 2009 by Garry Willey, The Journal

A DISTINGUISHED academic from a Tyneside university has been accused of travelling to Jersey for sex sessions with an underage schoolgirl he groomed on the internet.

Trevor Jackson, who lectured in biomedicine at the University of Newcastle, made five separate trips to the island as a "sex tourist", it is alleged. He had already made contact over the web with a 13-year-old girl living there, it is claimed.

The pair had sex sessions together in hotels during every trip and full intercourse on two occasions, prosecutors say.

Jackson, 46, from Lyndhurst Avenue, Jesmond, was arrested when police investigated the Jersey trips, allegedly made between 2005 and 2006.

He was charged with a number of counts of sexual activity with a child following grooming and released on bail.

But Jackson’s computer was also seized during the inquiry. And now he has been further charged with offences of possessing indecent images of children – photographs allegedly found when the computer was "interrogated" by IT experts.

"The allegation is he travelled as a sex tourist to Jersey on several occasions," Robin Patton, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court.

"The analysis of his computer, we say, shows his interest in girls of that age has not changed since 2005 when he was in contact with the 13-year-old.