Former youth worker jailed for child sex offences

A former senior youth worker who committed a string of sex offences against teenage girls has been jailed for five and a half years.

Jacob Agnew, 30, from Hull, was convicted of six charges following a 13-day trial at Hull Crown Court last month. He had previously admitted a further four similar charges and one count of fraud.

Humberside Police said the offences involved seven girls aged between 14 and 17 and took place between 2012 and 2022.

The prosecution said his offending against vulnerable victims was an "abuse of trust".

Agnew was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of sexual assault and one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

At a previous hearing in March, he had pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of fraud.

One of the victims told the court the offences had left her suffering from panic attacks.

"Deep down, it was eating me alive. I trusted him," she said.

"How could somebody who was supposed to make me feel safe do the opposite?"

The fraud charge related to a successful job application Agnew made to a secondary school while he was suspended from his youth worker job due the allegations against him.

He faked an email address from one of his colleagues and wrote a reference for himself "in glowing terms", the prosecution said.

Judge Mark Bury said Agnew had "a sexual interest in younger females".

"You were somebody who was setting out in a career in youth work," he said.

"You were trusted, you abused that situation and the people you abused have been badly affected by it."

Agnew was banned from contact with people under 18, and must register as a sex offender.

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