A TRIAL has started for a young man accused of having sex with an underage girl and sending sexual messages to two others.

Matthew White is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with six counts of child sexual offences dating back to 2019.

The 26-year-old has denied the offences, telling police that though he had messaged and met with one of the girls, nothing sexual had taken place.

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During the trial opening on Monday (June 3), the Crown Prosecution Service stated that White had a sexual interest in teenage girls and was ‘predatory’ in seeking them out on Facebook.

In 2019, when he was 21, he had friended a 14-year-old girl on the social networking app.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a mutual friend with White so she ‘thought he could be trusted’.

It was heard that the pair then began talking on Snapchat and there was allegedly a consensual exchange of naked photographs.

However, the court heard that these photos are no longer retrievable.

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On December 6, 2019, the pair decided to meet in person. The girl told police that they then had consensual sex without protection in a field near Skimmingdish Lane, Bicester.

She alleged that the following day, the pair had consensual unprotected sex at White’s home address in Rochford Gardens, Bicester.

A jury heard that the girl then told her care worker who reported the allegations to the police.

When White was arrested, he provided a prepared statement admitting that he had met with the girl but that no sexual activity had taken place.

White’s phone was taken by officers where it was allegedly discovered that White had messaged two other 15-year-old girls, both of whom can also not be named for legal reasons, on Facebook.

It is alleged that naked photographs were exchanged with one of the girls, including White reportedly sending a video of himself masturbating.

There were allegedly sexual photographs sent to the third girl but she had blocked White when he reportedly asked her for naked photographs.

All three girls were interviewed by police.

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Opening the trial, the prosecuting barrister said: “It began on Facebook and once communication was established it sometimes switched to another platform such as Snapchat or Instagram as it processed to meeting them and sometimes engaging in sexual activity with them.

“It’s called grooming. There is no suggestion that Mr White thought they were older. They told him when they were communicating how old they were.”

The trial, which is expected to last four to five days, continues.