A man who took a 15-year-old girl to a hotel for sex has been jailed for 45 months.

Sven Halstein, 37, started talking to the girl on the dating app Badoo, where he made it clear how old she was and that he was texting from school, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Despite this, he sent her lewd messages on WhatApp and arranged to meet her at a Premier Inn in Penrith, Cumbria, where he pushed himself on her and engaged in sexual activity.

Judge Nicholas Barker said he was satisfied Halstein knew the girl was “young and vulnerable” and that what he was doing was illegal.

The court heard that while the pair were in the hotel room, the girl was able to text her friend saying she was “going to be raped”, said Rob Wyn Jones, prosecuting.

The girl’s friends and father went to the hotel, where she was “upset and shaking”.

Upon arrest, Halstein told police he “just wanted to have fun.”

Analysis of his phone showed he had previously searched the internet for “underage sex in England”.

Halstein, a German national of no fixed address, admitted six offenses – engaging in penetrative and non-penetrative sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offense by booking the hotel room.

The horrific impact of his act was highlighted in a graphic statement by the girl’s mother, who said she hoped the teenager would be “strong enough to get through all of this”.

Counseling was offered to the girl, who spoke of rarely leaving her home and feeling guilty about what had happened.

Sentencing Halstein on Friday, Judge Barker told him it was his responsibility to keep the child safe.

Brendan O’Leary, mitigating, said the defendant had no previous criminal convictions and expressed his “genuine and sincere remorse”.

In addition to the prison sentence, Halstein must sign the sex offenders’ register and abide by a strict restraining order, both for life.

He will also be banned from working with children and vulnerable adults.