Vile paedophile is jailed for multiple sexual assaults against schoolgirl

ABUSE BEGAN WHEN HIS VICTIM WAS JUST 11 YEARS OLD

- By ABIGAIL NICHOLSON

A SICK paedophile bribed a schoolgirl with a vape. Lee Merrison, 29, first exposed himself to the then 11-year-old victim in 2020 and groomed her by offering a vape in return for her to expose her breasts.

He sent the first indecent image to the young girl in 2021. He later deleted it, claiming that he had meant to send it to someone else.

The abuse extended to physical touching on at least two occasions in 2022, where he sexually assaulted the victim under her clothing.

In 2023, his reprehensible behaviour struck again when he sent a similarly indecent image, saying that he'd sent it by mistake; he proceeded to delete it a short while later.