Perv HGV driver who lured schoolgirls into Audi says he made 'biggest error of his life'

A perverted HGV driver who preyed on two schoolgirls has been jailed for more than four years. Adrian Vermaak, aged 38, wooed his young victims with his Audi A6 and took them for drives.

The defendant sexually abused the girls in his car, Stoke-on-Trent Court was told by prosecutor Barry White. Since the abuse, one girl said in a victim impact statement that her grades had dropped at school, reports StokeonTrentLive.

The second girl has her mental health has been affected and she hates going to school now. "I feel used, betrayed, worthless and I am drained mentally and physically," she added. "I am angry. I did not deserve any of it."

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Hunter Gray, who was mitigating, said there was a degree of infatuation towards Vermaak from the girls. But the defendant "should have shut that down far more quickly than he did," said Mr Gray. "They are both vulnerable because of their age," he said.

"His conduct over a six-day period was out of character for him. He says he got caught up in the moment. He accepts he has made a massive error, the biggest error in his life."

He said Vermaak has been in custody for 10 months but conceded he would stay there for a longer period. He added that the defendant, who has been in the Territorial Army, fears he may be deported to Zimbabwe at the end of his sentence.

The defendant, of Hanley in Stoke, admitted five charges of sexual activity with a child. His pleas were on a basis that he did not force anyone to perform sex acts on him and he did not force himself on to anyone.

Judge Michael Maher said: "You wanted to act out your fantasy by having sexual activity with the girl. You said you wanted to have sex with her before she was 16. You realised she was vulnerable to your charm.

"Children need protection against predators like you and sometimes they need protection against themselves. You took advantage of the situation that presented itself to you."

The judge made Vermaak the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed him on the sex offenders' register for an indefinite period. He will serve two thirds of the sentence before he is released on licence.