A BACKGROUND report is to be prepared on a man who arranged to meet a 15-year-old girl in a Penrith hotel so he could sexually abuse her.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Sven Haustein, 36, who has no fixed address, pleaded guilty to six sex crimes against the teenager, having committed all the offences over a few days in June.

The allegations he admitted were:

  • Sexual communication with a child between June 5 and 8, doing so for the purpose of sexual gratification and while aware that the person involved was a 15-year-old girl.
  • Arranging or facilitating a child sex offence; namely, that on June 6, he booked a room at the Premier Inn in Penrith in order to engage in sexual activity with the 15-year-old girl.
  • And four offences of engaging in sexual activity with a child on June 7, sexually touching the same girl.

The teenager's ordeal ended after she sent a text to family alerting them to what was happening. After hearing the guilty pleas being entered, Judge Michael Fanning ordered a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service.

Haustein’s defence barrister Brendan O’Leary said the defendant had worked for the same company for 16 years.

The court heard that it was believed the defendant, who hails from Germany and who was assisted during the hearing by an interpreter, has no previous convictions.

The judge also asked the prosecution to arrange the preparation of a victim impact statement from the teenager, whose parents were in court.

Judge Fanning told the defendant, who appeared before the court via a video link from jail: “I don’t know enough to be able to sentence you today; I need information from your victim to see what the effect of this has been on her.

“And I want a check made [to confirm] that you don’t have convictions elsewhere in Europe. I understand you have travelled to here from Scotland.”

The Probation Service report will attempt to identify the reasons behind the offending, said the judge, who fixed the day of sentencing as August 9. “You will remain in custody for the reasons previously given,” added the judge.

No more details of the offending were outlined in court. The prosecution was represented by barrister Tim Evans.