A NEWPORT man was jailed for 12 months after admitting having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Andrew Hall, 21, was sentenced at Newport crown court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child.

The court heard how Hall of Tallis Close, Ringland, had drank three litres of cider at a flat in Maindee before having sex with the girl in April this year.

Hall claimed to be asleep when the girl came in and encouraged him to have sex.

Hall had initially been arrested on suspicion of rape and Marianne Bennett defending, said the whole episode left him feeling depressed.

She said "He says he feel sorry, he accepts he should have known better.

"Alcohol clearly had a significant role to play. It's not an excuse but it's an explanation."

The court heard how Hall had three previous convictions for common assault, taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and being drunk and disorderly.

Sentencing, Judge Roderick Denyer said he fully accepted that the sex was consensual but the age difference between the two warranted a jail sentence.

He said "You were probably both the worse for wear for drink and had you not had a significant amount to drink you almost certainly would not have had sexual intercourse with this young girl."

Hall was also sentenced to one month in prison to be served concurrently for breaching a community order relating to the taking a vehicle without consent offence and was ordered to sign on the sexual offenders register for ten years.