A Brierley Hill father of three, who tried to abduct schoolgirls for sex, has been jailed for 4 and a half years.

Shawn Jones complimented and blew kisses to the girls - who were all aged 12 to 14 - before his comments became more sinister and he left his victims in a state of "significant" distress. The father-of-three first targeted young girls in Kates Hill and Cradley before setting his sights on two girls sat in a parked car at the Merry Hill shopping centre. Judge John Wait told Jones:

"You took opportunities when you encountered girls who were alone. 

"You made grossly inappropriate sexualised comments causing great distress and your offending was repeated when the opportunity arose"

The judge said all the girls had been badly affected by his actions and two of them had to receive counselling to help them get over their ordeal.

Jones, of Norwood Road, had denied four charges of attempting to abduct a girl under 16 years of age with the intention of committing a sexual offence, but the jury found him guilty of all the offences on unanimous verdicts.

Simon Phillips, prosecuting, had told the jury that Jones was seeking to take away the girls and detain them so he could commit some sort of sexual offence adding that at the very least he wanted to abduct them for an unknown purpose.

But in evidence to the panel, Jones maintained he had not been in the area when the first two girls were approached although he said he had been parked at the Merry Hill centre. He said the two girls had been looking at him and giggling and he had simply said "What?" before driving away from the scene.

Elizabeth Power, defending, stressed the offences were of a short duration and references produced to the court painted a picture of a man who was "loyal and dependable" to his friends and family.

The court was told that Jones had a number of previous convictions for offences including violence, criminal damage and drugs but there was no other sexual offending on his record.

The judge made Jones the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order to help curb the possibility of future offending and told him he would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.