A man has been jailed for more than two years and made subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order for committing offences against children.

Nicholas Day, 20, formerly of Colchester and now of no fixed address, was 19 when he met a girl aged 12 at a bus stop in Colchester in October 2016.

He later repeatedly contacted her through Facebook and text message, telling her he loved her and asking her to be his girlfriend.

He arranged to meet her near Colchester but ran off when the victim’s father found out and confronted him.

Day admitted a charge of meeting a child following grooming when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on July 10.

He was also charged with two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child after he was involved in a short relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

He met the teenager from Maldon online in September last year and sent her Facebook messages asking if she was single and how old she was.

Despite knowing her age, he asked if she was looking for a boyfriend.

They exchanged messages and met a number of times over the course of a month.

Day admitted the sexual activity charges when he appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday June 12.

This followed a joint investigation by Essex Police and Essex County Council social care.

He was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court today, to four months for each sexual activity charge, to run concurrently, and two years, for meeting a child after grooming.

The total sentence, to run consecutively, was two years and four months.

The judge also granted Essex Police’s application for a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to be imposed on Day.

Among the list of strict conditions is an order that he cannot have any contact with any child under 18, other than when it is unintentional and not reasonably avoidable in the course of normal daily life, or the child’s parent or guardian has consented, has full knowledge of his sexual offending history and there is prior approval from social care.

He must not access any social media unless he provides log in and password details to police and consents to inspection of his accounts.

And he cannot own, possess or use a mobile phone or any device capable of accessing the internet, unless he notifies police, it can retain and display internet history and he makes it available for inspection by police on request.

If he breaches these or the other conditions listed, he will be brought back before the courts.

It is believed there may be other victims and anyone with concerns is asked to contact police on 101 or by Crimestoppers 0800555111.