AN AMERICAN computer programmer who sent obscene pictures of himself to a 15-year-old Doncaster girl has walked free from court.
Ian Smith, aged 30, flew 5,000 miles from his home in Beverton, Oregon, to see the teenager after meeting her on the internet.
He told police they had discussed meeting up and she had asked him to attend her school prom.
The American walked fre
e from Doncaster Magistrates' Court after his hearing because he had already served his four week jail sentence behind bars while awaiting trial.
Smith has also been placed on the sex offenders register for seven years.
He denied the charge of intentionally causing a child aged 15 to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, but was found guilty by the bench.
Smith said the pictures were a Valentine's Day gift to the girl instead of flowers.
Prosecutor Justin Bullis said: "Initial contact was made in October 2007. Internet contact was taking place once a day, sometimes twice in an afternoon. The pair have expressed their love for each other.
"Her friends were worried about her but Mr Smith said he wasn't bothered and all that mattered was their relationship."
The court heard the police investigation started when the girl was stopped at Birmingham Airport on April 8 where she was trying to leave the country to visit Smith, shortly after she had turned 16.
Her computer was seized by officers who found the indecent images and a backlog of online conversations.
Smith was arrested in a Doncaster hotel on May 23 after he flew in to visit the teenager.
Richard Haigh, defending, said the girl had told police how much she wanted to be with Smith, describing the relationship as a level playing field.
After the hearing, the teenager's mum said Smith had ruined her daughter's life and she hated him for what he had done.
She said: "Her friends told us she had gone to the airport to be with him.
"Thank God they told us because who knows what would have happened to her."
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