A FORMER member of the Samaritans convicted of sexual grooming of a 14-year-old boy he met on a gay internet website has been banned for life from working with children.

Judge Andrew Geddes warned 41-year-old Vincent Oakes, of Kidderminster, at Worcester Crown Court that he had escaped prison but it was "a close run thing".

He made a three-year community order with a requirement that Oakes undertake a sex offender treatment programme. He has also to register as a sex offender for five years.

Oakes, of Park Street, Kidderminster, was found guilty after a four-day trial in January of the grooming charge but was cleared on one charge of sexual activity with a child. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a second charge of sexual activity and the prosecution decided against a re-trial.

The court heard that the boy was vulnerable and confused about his sexuality and lied that he was 23 in a profile of himself on the website, despite a teacher's warning about passing himself off as someone older.

Oakes, who had no previous convictions, eventually discovered the true age of the boy, who lived in a village near Worcester, and tried to block the chatline but he kept up contact after finding out the boy was upset.

Police found an e-mail in which Oakes professed love for the boy but Oakes told the court that he was just "befriending another human being in distress." He denied sexual contact when the boy visited his home.

Judge Geddes said it was clear on overwhelming evidence that Oakes's intention was to have some form of sexual contact, which would have been illegal. He had no credit for forcing the boy to go through a trial in which defence counsel falsely branded him a liar.

Oakes was responsible for the considerable distress caused to the victim and his family but, fortunately, they had begun to recover.

The judge did not order costs after hearing that Oakes was unemployed and on incapacity benefit.