The mother of a vulnerable Scots schoolgirl who was preyed on by a sexual predator said she is “relieved justice has been served” after he was jailed today.
Andrew Cunningham, 36, who offered the teen cash in exchange for sexual favours was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Hamilton Sheriff Court and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Sheriff Louise Gallacher described his behaviour as “highly disturbing” and referred to a statement by the girl’s mother that it has had a “devastating” impact on her child whose life quickly spiralled out of control which saw her self-harm daily and turn to drugs and alcohol to cope.
Speaking to Lanarkshire Live after the sentencing today, she said: “We are relieved that justice has been served although it won’t change the damage done to my daughter. Hopefully now she can slowly start to move on with her life and regain any chance of childhood while she has time.
“We are so relieved that he got custodial. I am so proud of my daughter for giving evidence. She has been the main part of him getting a conviction.”
Jurors were told that Cunningham bombarded the schoolgirl with texts and suggested booking a hotel room for them.
Rebecca Clark, prosecuting, said his lewd messages showed he was “asking her to prostitute herself for £100 a week”.
Cunningham, 36, of Clyde Tower, East Kilbride, denied communicating indecently with a child and offering cash for sexual services, but he was found guilty on both counts. The offences happened in 2023.
In the victim impact statement, written by the girl’s mother, she described how her daughter’s innocence had been ‘stolen’.
She said: “She thought she was in the wrong, she thought everything was her fault, she did not like or want all the attention from people, she was just a young girl. She did not fully understand what we were all trying to tell her and how wrong this situation was.
“In June 2023 her behaviour started escalating to extremely dangerous lengths, she started running away, her self-harming became a daily occurrence, she had started using substances including drugs and alcohol. Things were spiralling quickly out of control.
“She became very withdrawn and distant. Many relationships have now been broken in her life due to her lack of trust and anxiety. So, an already unsure vulnerable young girl has been turned into an even bigger mixed up mess of emotions and mistrust for people.”
Addressing the abuser, she added: “The disgusting things you were asking her to do should never have even entered her head at that age and if it were then it was possibly to discuss with friends her own age talking, learning, exploring the meaning of it as young girls do.
“Then again later in life when she finally gets the chance of a possible romantic relationship any time any of these things get mentioned will she cope? Will she trust the man? Will her mind revert back to that awful time? Who knows, and for that I/we/my family will never ever be able to forgive you.
“You have stolen her innocence, her childhood, her understanding of trust, her could have been most memorable years, and quite possibly her future.”
Cunningham denied sending the lewd messages. He claimed he’d left behind his phone in a pub and didn’t get it back for several days.
He insisted any one of three friends he was with in the pub could have been responsible for the messages.
The court heard he met the girl by chance. Over the next few days she received 196 texts and 13 phone calls.
Cunningham offered to provide the girl with alcohol and said he was keen to sleep with her.
Messages included ‘You help me and I’ll help you’ and ‘No one has to know. I’ll give you a lot of money if you come up to my gaff once a week’.
The girl didn’t reply to his suggestions of sexual activity and when he mentioned booking a hotel she responded to say she couldn’t because her mum needed her home.
Giving evidence, Cunningham rejected the prosecutor’s claim that he had been “grooming the girl for sex”.
He insisted he hadn’t sent any of the messages, but Ms Clark said he’d been recognised on a Facetime call.
Defence lawyer Ian Scott said Cunningham has had issues with drugs and alcohol. His previous convictions involve violence and disorder but the offending he has now been found guilty of is “out of character”.
Mr Scott referred to one girl’s evidence that they had been “trying to take advantage of him for the purpose of getting alcohol”.
He suggested a community payback order would give his client “supervision and help”.
But Sheriff Louise Gallacher said she was “very concerned” by a criminal justice social work report suggestion that Cunningham was “victim blaming”.
She told him: “I would have considered a non-custodial sentence had you accepted your behaviour and consented to engage with the rehabilitation work necessary to ensure you don’t re-offend.
“You say you won’t engage and without intervention that risk remains. Given your attitude, there is no option other than custody available to me.”
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