A schoolgirl's internet Romeo turned out to be a 46-year-old man with a taste for cross-dressing, a judge heard on Friday.

The 14-year-old Haverfordwest girl made contact with John Alistair Lloyd in an internet chatroom and eventually met for a sexual encounter. Mike Edwards, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court how the girl spent more and more time on her home computer.

Later, the two made contact by mobile telephone and Lloyd sent 'top up' cards to keep her 'phone in credit. The teenager told her mother she was talking to a 16-year-old boy called John. In early June she asked permission to travel to Tenby to meet John. By then the girl knew John's real age. They went to his hotel room, talked and began kissing.

They met for a second time, again in Tenby, and at the same hotel he gave her 'a large amount' of champagne and sexually assaulted her. Mr Edwards said the girl did not arrive home until 10pm and her mother became annoyed. But Lloyd telephoned, pretending to be John's father, and explained it was his fault because he had insisted on waiting for a female taxi driver.

Eventually, a friend of the girl heard what was going on and contacted the police. Lloyd, of Newbridge-on-Wye, admitted indecent assault. At his home police found a woman's bikini which he claimed belonged to his sister and that he cross-dressed from time to time.

Judge Christopher Morton said he would adopt new powers granted by the Attorney General in regard to sex offenders who 'groomed' youngsters for sex.

Lloyd was jailed for two years and will be liable to be returned to jail for the next six years should he re-offend. He was also banned from working from children for life.