Keighley train guard jailed for sex assaults on teenage girl

Charles Hall, of Fallwood Street, Haworth, appeared before Bradford Crown Court today after pleading guilty to five charges.

He was handed a 28-month prison sentence, a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the Sexual Offenders' Register for seven years. The court heard that the 58-year-old, who worked as a train conductor for TransPennine Express, met a young girl while working as a volunteer for a local organisation. Over time, the defendant befriended the 15-year-old girl, messaging her on Facebook and then meeting with her regularly and on two occasions engaging in a sexual act with her.Detectives were first made aware of Hall’s behaviour after a colleague saw Hall videoing himself while at a urinal at work.

Another colleague raised concerns when he overheard Hall using inappropriate sexual language towards the victim on a video call in the staff mess room. Hall’s work phone was then seized and examined by officers, where indecent images of the victim were found.

Further examinations were done, which identified indecent conversations on the messaging service Facebook Messenger. Hall was charged with two counts of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15 and three counts of possessing indecent images of a child.At court, the defendant admitted these charges. DI Granville Sellers, of British Transport Police, said: “Hall exploited the position of trust he had at a local organisation to befriend a young girl over a series of months.

"Then, on more than one occasion he sexually assaulted her, knowing full well that his actions were illegal and entirely reprehensible. “I am grateful to the vigilant staff members at TransPennine Express trains for alerting us to Hall’s suspicious and inappropriate behaviour.

"Ultimately, they played a crucial part in bringing Hall to justice and putting him behinds bars.”