Sex attacker's appeal dismissed

A man found guilty of sex charges against girls aged 12 and 15 he met on the internet has lost his appeal against conviction.

Jonathon Blake "groomed" the girls through an internet chatroom and eventually met up with them. He then committed a series of sex offences against them, the Court of Appeal was told.

Blake appealed the convictions on a number of grounds, including that his defence counsel told him that if he took the witness stand he would be cross-examined over his previous convictions for violence towards women.

In his appeal, Blake said the lawyer exaggerated the implications of cross-examination and this "significantly affected" his "pivotal" decision not to give evidence.

He said this represented a miscarriage of justice because he was substantially influenced by erroneous advice.

In a majority decision, Justices David Baragwanath, Judith Potter and Ronald Young dismissed the appeal.