A former Cardiff University lecturer has recently been convicted of having inappropriate relations with a minor and has confessed to kissing a 15-year-old girl. His wife then contacted the police, calling him a “sexual predator and a paedophile”. He admitted that he had met the young girl online and groomed her. Steven Stanley, 46, was at the time a lecturer at Cardiff University in the School of Social Sciences, and arranged to meet the girl in Bute Park, having full knowledge of her age. He proceeded to take her back to his flat, played his guitar to her until she left and quickly found a nearby train station.
Stanley used social media websites including MySpace and Skype during the mid 2000s to groom his victim. He, however, denied this, telling his wife that he had shared an ad online titled “BDSM student-teacher dynamics in a generation Z context”. Stanley is also currently under investigation for having inappropriate relations with students.
The victim said that she was experiencing difficulties and unhappiness at home and in her life at the time she decided to start speaking to Stanley. She caught a train to Cardiff and met the former lecturer in Coopers Field. She said that as she was lying on the grass in Bute Park, Stanley touched her lower back (or leg) and kissed her on the lips. She described the kiss as “sensual” and as “though he had been thinking about it for a long time”.
After being interviewed by police in her home, the victim was visibly shaken when she heard Stanley’s name, and informed police that she has behavioural and trust issues as a result of her experience with the defendant. Her personal statement was read aloud to the court on Wednesday the 25th of September at the Newport Crown Court; Wales Online has reported it as follows: “I met him when I was a young teenager, I was a vulnerable young person and had problems at home. Thinking back now I realise how vulnerable I came across to Steven.
What happened [took] a long time to put to the back of my mind due to shame on my part. I’ve come to realise shame does not lie with me. I have some lifelong behavioural issues because of what happened. It’s hard to trust people now, I can’t trust people for who they show me they are. What if they have some capability to manipulate or lie to me? I have suffered terribly with mental health which I am extremely open about as it consumes a large part of my life. I was used by a person professional qualified to understand my issues.
One of the most stressful things I have had to do. The emotional damage I’ve had will be a lifelong battle to carry. I can’t erase a memory. I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel the way I have to and to know there are other people is devastating and unacceptable… I am aware and extremely vigilant of people like [the defendant] and will be extremely cautious when it comes to my own children.”
After pleading guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, Stanley was sentenced to a 24 month community order, 150 hours of unpaid work, and a 20 day rehabilitation activity requirement. As well as this, he is now also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention order, sex offender notification requirements, and a restraining order, all of which will remain effective for five years. As he sentenced Stanley, Judge Daniel Williams said: “You used your apparent respectability and responsible job to reassure [the victim] as part of the grooming process.” Stanley’s career as a university lecturer is now over, and he is hoping to find a new profession.