GAZETTE & HERALD: DC Trevor Abbott, the officer in charge of the investigation into the internet assault, said the mother of the victim was happy about the outcome of the court case.

DC Abbott picked up the investigation from the beginning and described it as a complex investigation with many different avenues to explore.

"It was a very convoluted inquiry with a need for sensitivity," he said.

"We seized the man's computer to gain evidence of how he was using chat rooms to speak to the girl and groom her to meet him.

"It really opened my mind to the computer age I learned a lot about the dangers of chat rooms and how you could put yourself in a dangerous situation if you were young and vulnerable. I am very pleased with the outcome of the court case. The man is a potential danger to vulnerable females and is now a registered sex offender so we can keep track of him."

As well as checking up on computer evidence, police officers investigated the mobile phone network to find out about Webb's contacts with the girl.

DC Abbott said the girl was very shocked after the incident but seemed to have made a good recovery.

DC Abbott was responsible for co-ordinating the inquiry and organising the forensic work undertaken by other agencies for the police.

It took about two months to locate Webb, and he was arrested in November 2002. Evidence gathering took months because of the complexity of sifting through computer and mobile phone records and the decision was made to charge Webb in February this year.

DC Abbott said interviewing the young victim was a difficult process, dealing with the upset of the assault as well as helping the family come to terms with what had happened.

"Now they seem to have drawn a line under the incident and moved on, because he has pleaded guilty," he said.

DC Abbott also interviewed the girl's friends, some of whom had met Webb. Webb and his victim first made contact on the internet six months before the sexual assault.

In March this year 21-year-old Swindon man Paul Jones was sentenced to four years prison at Swindon Crown Court, after admitting charges of abduction and indecent assault against a 14 year-old girl.

Jones befriended the teenager in an internet chatroom, and then went on to groom her, prior to assaulting her in the Savernake Forest.

Jones also had an extended sentence on licence for two years added to the four-year term, and was put on the sex offenders' register for life.

After the court case DI James Vaughan, from Swindon CID, said: "We are delighted with the sentence, which reflects the severity of this type of offence and we hope that this is a clear message to people who use internet chatrooms to groom young people."