Man sentenced to 11 years after sexual exploitation of Brighton girl

A London man has been sentenced to a total of eleven years and three months imprisonment for sexual exploitation offences against a 13-year-old Brighton girl, and of separately attempting to meet a girl for sexual purposes.

Kerien Rudland, 24, unemployed, of Alwold Crescent, Eltham, London, SE12, was sentenced at Chichester Crown Court on Friday 25 June.

He had pleaded guilty at Brighton Crown Court on 27 November 2019 to to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, meeting a child following sexual grooming and two counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a child.

He pleaded not guilty to two offences, of abduction and sexual assault, and these were directed to lay on the court file without being proceeded with.
He was also convicted on 5 December after a separate trial at the same court of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a girl under 16, and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.

These offences related to his engagement online from his family address in Hull, with someone online who was pretending to be a 13-year-old girl. He was arrested on suspicion of that offence by Humberside Police in August 2018.

The language used by Rudland when communicating with the Brighton girl on Facebook were very similar to those sent to the 'decoy' account.

Rudland will be a registered sex offender for ?life and ???was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) severely restricting his access to children and computers until further court notice.

The sexual exploitation prosecution, authorised by the CPS, followed an investigation by officers from the Brighton Safeguarding Investigations Unit into a report received on Sunday evening (10 February).

Detective Sergeant Matt Stevens said; "Rudland met the girl on the Internet, groomed her online, met her in Brighton on Sunday 10 February 2019 and had sexual activity with her on the beach in Brighton and on a train with her on the way back to London. She was reported missing by her family, and when we checked her PlayStation we found recent contact between them via Facebook.

"As a result of our intensive enquiries, working with our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police, they were located in London at his mother’s address where he was living, by 11am the following morning and he was arrested.

"The girl was safe and has been receiving support from our specialist officers and independent agencies since.

"We also received valuable assistance from both Humberside Police and British Transport Police.

"Kerien Rudland is without doubt a serious danger to children. He began his offending online, quickly progressing to contact sexual offending with a child. Sussex Police Safeguarding Investigation Units work tirelessly to safeguard children, prosecute offenders and enable them to be removed from society.

For advice and sources of support over suspicions of child sexual exploitation, see the Sussex Police website here.