No jail time for Tasmanian girl stealer

A MAN convicted of child stealing after buying a plane ticket for a 15-year-old he intended to have sex with has been spared jail time.

The Tasmanian girl got to know 31-year-old Anthony Taylor in April last year through the internet game World of Warcraft, the County Court was told.

The court heard the pair - aware of each other's age - communicated through the game and on the phone, with their conversations progressing from "chit-chat" to intimate and sexual.

Her father became concerned after she told him she loved Taylor, and he sent Taylor a message warning him to stay away, Judge Susan Pullen said.

The girl later went to stay with a friend, claiming she'd been kicked out of home.

On July 3 last year, Taylor bought the girl an airfare and she flew to Melbourne the next day.

Police, who had been forewarned, intercepted Taylor at Melbourne airport.

Judge Pullen said Taylor told police he had developed feelings for the girl, but when he found out her age he thought it "could be a problem".

He told police that he did not intend to have sex with her until she turned 16, the court heard.

The judge said she accepted the girl asked Taylor for his help to come to Melbourne to be with him and get away from her father, but Taylor well knew her age was a problem.

Taylor, of Horsham, pleaded guilty to enticing a child under 16 against the will of her father.

The court heard Taylor had been sentenced to a community-based order in 1999 for sexual penetration of two children under 16, one of whom he had a baby with.

Judge Pullen said she was concerned that despite completing a sex offenders program, Taylor continued the relationship with the girl after learning she was 15.

She accepted a psychiatric report that Taylor was not predatory.

He was convicted and sentenced to a seven-month intensive corrections order, involving counselling and unpaid community work.