Bus driver, who groomed teenage girl, jailed for 12 months

Dale Codling, 26, of Kirk Lane, Hipperholme, who had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of grooming and engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a 13 year old girl on October 21, 2013 was jailed for 12 months.

The offences took place while Codling was working as a First Bus driver on a school route in Calderdale.

Judge Rose, sentencing Codling - a father of one - said: “The grooming of a child is not something that happens as an error of judgement or a one-off mistake - you were 25 and she was 13.

“No man of your age has the right to act in such way with a child.”

Codling groomed her by lavishing her with compliments on Facebook and by phone, which the prosecution said “made her feel good about herself”.

The court heard that when Codling took the girl for a drive on October 21, 2013, he kissed her. After she kissed him back, he then touched her inappropriately and the girl asked him to stop.

Codling drove the girl home but continued to remain in contact with her.

The girl’s mother later found out a month later and reported him to the police.

Gerald Hendron, defending, said Codling felt “ashamed of himself” and asked the judge to consider his immediate admission following his arrest and subsequent guilty plea.