Man who groomed teen has sentence tripled

A man who engaged in sexual activity with a 14-year-old boy has had his sentence tripled.

His original sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General’s Office under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

James Rampton, 36, met the victim at a youth support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teenagers in 2010. The victim attended the group to seek support as he was coming to terms with his emerging sexuality.

Later that year, the victim and Rampton started to communicate via Facebook messenger and the offender began to groom the victim by discussing sexual activity. They then arranged to meet for sex, and the victim travelled to the offender’s house where they engaged in sexual activity over two successive days.

On 11 August at Gloucester Crown Court, Rampton was convicted of meeting a child following sexual grooming and sexual activity with a child. He was sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment.

On 2 November the Court of Appeal found his original sentence to be unduly lenient and increased it to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General, Alex Chalk QC MP said:

The offender took advantage of a young boy who was in the process of coming to terms with his sexuality. It is only right the sentence has been increased to reflect the lasting impact the offender’s actions have had on the victim. I hope it can help to bring him some closure.