Middlesex woman jailed after grooming Dorset teenager on Facebook

Charlene Baxter, also known as Charlene Cole, aged 29 and of Southall, Middlesex, pleaded guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court in September to child abduction, sexual activity with a child and meeting a child following sexual grooming. She was sentenced on 22 December 2017, to five years in prison.

She was also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and told she would also be placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Baxter befriended her victim over Facebook in May and June 2017. She continued to chat to her victim online, sharing sexually explicit images and talking to him in a sexualised manner.

She arranged to travel to the Christchurch area of Dorset on 20 August 2017 to meet him.

The victim’s concerned mother called Dorset Police to report her son was missing later that day.

Examining his computer she found Baxter had been communicating with him online and had arranged to meet him in the New Forest area.

Baxter gave her victim alcohol and they stayed in a tent overnight on a Dorset beach where sexual activity took place.

On Monday 21 August the victim contacted his mother and he was located.

Baxter was arrested on a train at Basingstoke railway station later the same evening.

Detective Constable Adam Taylor, of Dorset Police’s Integrated Missing Persons and Child Sexual Exploitation Team (IMPACT), said, “Baxter admitted to meeting with her young victim and engaging in sexual activity with him after she groomed him online.

“Dorset Police is committed to safeguarding children at risk of sexual exploitation. We are working closely with partner agencies to ensure the victim and his family continues to receive full support following the incident.

“We are determined to identify perpetrators of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and bring them to justice.

“If you have any concerns that a child may be a victim of CSE, please report it to the police. Visit dorset.police.uk/cse for more information and the other support organisations who can help.”