A SEX offender was reminded by a judge of the “duty of all grown men” after he was prosecuted for kissing two 13-year-old girls he contacted through Facebook.

A SEX offender was reminded by a judge of the “duty of all grown men” after he was prosecuted for kissing two 13-year-old girls he contacted through Facebook.

Canaan Jakopo, 21, of Bernard Close, Huntingdon, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to two charges of consensual kissing with the two girls.

But by the time he was sentenced at Huntingdon Crown Court on Thursday (June 9) he had already served 184 days in remand – equal to a 12-month custodial sentence – and was allowed to walk free from court.

He was, however, given a three-year supervision order and a five-year sexual offences supervision order. He will also move away from Huntingdon to complete a sexual offending group work programme with the probation service in Peterborough.

Jakopo was subject to an 18-month community order for a non-consensual sexual assault on a woman in her early 20s.

Concerns were raised over Jakopo’s relationships with two 13-year-old girls last year when the mother of one saw her daughter’s Facebook page.

Prosecutor Georgina Gibbs said the first offence occurred between June and November last year, when Jakopo and a 13-year-old girl “hugged each other and consensually kissed each other on one occasion for two to three minutes”.

Miss Gibbs said: “At that time the defendant would have been 19 or 20, and he was well aware of her age.”

The second offence happened when he met another girl in August or September of last year, when the two “kissed consensually for a few minutes”, and Jakopo accepted he was aware of her age at the time.

John Kirkpatrick, mitigating, said there had been no forceful or violent behaviour involved.

Judge Patrick Moloney said it was clear Jakopo did not understand “the right and the wrong way for a young man to deal with girls and young women”.

He added: “Adults are supposed to know that girls under 16 need protection. They do not know what they want as far as sexual activity goes.

“They need to be protected from men and from themselves and it’s the duty of all grown men to play their part.”

He said the offences were “not the most serious”, but added: “The pattern of behaviour that is beginning to emerge is a very serious.”

Det Con Kerry Williams praised the co-operation of the victims in the case.

He said: “Jakopo knew how old the girls were as their age was clearly stated on their Facebook pages. However, he continued to pursue them and arranged to meet up.”