Bus driver who groomed a teenage girl.

Family Weeps as Bus Driver Jailed for Sexually Abusing Teenage Daughter

A family wept as the bus driver who sexually abused their teenage daughter was jailed at Bradford Crown Court today (Monday).

Dale Codling, 26, of Kirk Lane, Hipperholme, was sentenced to 12 months in prison. He had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of grooming and engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl on October 21, 2013.

The offenses took place while Codling was working as a First Bus driver on a school route in Calderdale.

Judge Rose, sentencing Codling, a father of one, said: "The grooming of a child is not something that happens as an error of judgment or a one-off mistake - you were 25 and she was 13. No man of your age has the right to act in such a way with a child."

Codling groomed the girl by lavishing her with compliments on Facebook and by phone, which the prosecution said made her feel good about herself.

The court heard that when Codling took the girl for a drive on October 21, 2013, he kissed her. After she kissed him back, he then touched her inappropriately, and the girl asked him to stop.

Codling drove the girl home but continued to remain in contact with her. The girl's mother later found out a month later and reported him to the police.

Gerald Hendron, defending, said Codling felt ashamed of himself and asked the judge to consider his immediate admission following his arrest and subsequent guilty plea.