David Wheeler, 58, from Darlington was jailed for 18 months on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault.

Teesside Crown Court was told Wheeler, from Farndale Crescent in Darlington, was given the diaries for safe keeping by the girl during their year-long affair, which began when she was 14.

Years later she went to the police and the diaries were found at the home of the father-of-two.

Wheeler, a computer consultant, described himself as an old romantic who fell in love with the girl, but Judge Les Spittle said he had "groomed her for sex".

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.