A teenage girl groomed on Snapchat by a paedophile said he "abused" her body and threatened to kill himself and her. Stephen Lee Hallmark contacted the then 13-year-old on Facebook before moving his grooming campaign onto Snapchat.
The victim told him her age, but the 28-year-old Liverpool man falsely claimed he was 20 and pressured the girl to tell her family that he was actually 15. Just a month after he first approached the girl online and told her he wanted her to be his girlfriend, Hallmark met his target at her home in December.
In three follow-up meetings between then and February this year, Hallmark engaged in a programme of sexual abuse on his young victim. Bravely speaking to the ECHO with her mum's permission, the now 14-year-old said: "He kept abusing my body. He groomed me."
Victim 'in shock and could not speak'
The girl, who cannot be named because of her age and the nature of the crimes, said the first time he abused her she "was in shock and could not speak" out of fear. "I felt like he just wanted to use me," the girl added.
The victim stood up to the much older man and told him what he was doing was abuse. When confronted at first, Hallmark tried to dissuade his victim from speaking to the police, telling her to "go no comment".
But things took an even darker turn when he told her he would kill himself if she revealed what had happened, before then making the chilling threat that he would also come after her. "I was not sleeping because I thought he was going to kill me," the girl said.
Arrest and sentencing
Hallmark was arrested on February 21 soon after his victim made her report to the police. Evidence gathered during the investigation included messages provided by the teenager. When asked in interview why he lied about his age, Hallmark said: "I didn't want her to think I was an old b*****d."
The abuser pleaded guilty ahead of his trial sparing his victim having to take to the witness stand where she would have been legally examined. He admitted offences of meeting a girl under 16 following grooming and four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15.
Hallmark, of Allington Street in St Michael's, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment and will serve a further three years on licence. He was handed a 15-year restraining order against the teenager and her family and will remain on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.
Lasting emotional impact
But Hallmark's offending continues to have a lasting emotional impact on his victim. In a victim impact statement read in court, she said: "Since what happened to me, I feel like my life has been destroyed.
"I don't think I will ever fully heal from what happened. I'm constantly questioning myself and being tormented by flashbacks. I struggle to do anything now without it constantly being on my mind. I hardly go to school anymore and don't like leaving the house without my mum or dad.
"I hate looking at myself in the mirror or in the shower because it's a reminder that he's touched my body, and I also struggle with nightmares and sleeping because I just can't stop thinking and replaying everything."
She added: "He has taken something away from me that I can never get back. I opened up to him and was vulnerable with him because I genuinely thought he loved and cared about me.
"I still struggle with the fact that I believed his lies, and it's made me question people and even myself. Even when the case is over, what happened to me will stay with me for the rest of my life."
Regarding the length of sentence, the teenager said she had mixed feelings about it. She said: "I feel like it could have been longer, but he'll be away from me and on the sex offenders' register forever."
And asked about why she wanted to share her story, she added: "I'm not saying he has done this before, but I want people to know what sort of person he is so they are warned."
Police response
Speaking after Hallmark's sentencing, Greater Manchester Police Detective Constable Alex Dibden, from Bolton's child protection investigation unit, said: "I want to thank the survivor for bravely coming forward and supporting our investigation. She has shown immense courage throughout the investigation and court proceedings.
"Stephen Hallmark exploited a child for his own sexual gratification after deliberately establishing contact with her online and arranging a series of meetings, despite knowing she was only 13 years old.
"Even after his offending came to light, he attempted to manipulate the teenager and discourage her from speaking to police. Thanks to the survivor's courage and the evidence gathered during our investigation, Hallmark has now been held accountable for his actions."
