Sex shame of ex-BBC manager
Reporter: HELEN KORN
Date published: 09 December 2011
A FORMER programme manager for the BBC has been jailed for 18 months after grooming a 15-year-old girl from Oldham.
Stuart Barrington-Hall (52), of Northampton, was banned indefinitely from working with children under 18 and given a restraining order from his victim for 10 years at Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual activity with a child.
The girl said she met the father-of-one in September, 2010, after a friend dared her to visit an over-18s website specialising in sado-masochism.
Brian Berlyne, prosecuting, said Barrington-Hall, believing the girl was 16 or older, chatted to her online, before paying for and taking her to four different hotels including the Best Western Hotel in Oldham. They slept together and on one occasion he set up a camera to film them.
Nicola Gatto, defending, said the girl had lied to her mother, telling her she was dating a 19-year-old man.
“Although this man made a gross error of judgment, he is not a man who could be described as a sexual predator,” she said. “He went on a legal website targeting consenting adults and she actively misled him — she made it clear she was 18. She said it was a bit of fun, but that is wholly disingenuous.”
The court heard that it was only on the pair’s fourth meeting in February that she started talking about school and the 52 year old became suspicious she might be under age.
When the teen admitted the relationship to her mother, she agreed to go with her to meet Barrington-Hall at Stoneleigh Park, having asked police to arrive. He was arrested.
In a victim statement the girl said she felt “used and stupid” and hadn’t wanted the police to be involved.
Judge Peter Larkin told Barrington-Hall it was clear she had misled him - but that he was a mature adult who should have walked away from the relationship.
“You took advantage of a naive, immature teenage girl.”
Barrington-Hall, who will serve half his sentence in prison and half on licence, will also be subject to an independent safeguarding authority.
