Ex-footballer Tyrell Robinson jailed for underage sex with girls

Tyrell Robinson, 23, admitted engaging in sexual activity with a child, making an indecent image of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child.

Robinson admitted engaging in sexual activity with the teenager in Bradford in August 2018, when he himself was 19.

A second defendant, Korie Berman, 22, a close friend of Robinson’s, who previously pleaded guilty to five charges of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a child, was jailed for six years.

Both men had invited three 14-year-old girls, who were said to be intoxicated when they arrived, to Robinson’s flat after they had bought vodka and energy drinks from a shop on the way, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Once the three girls arrived at the flat, the men gave them further shots of apple vodka before they had sex.

Tyrell Robinson at a previous hearing at Bradford Crown Court last June

One of the girls was later treated at hospital for acute alcohol intoxication.

Robinson also entered a guilty plea to making and distributing an indecent image of a child via Snapchat, also in August 2018. Robinson saved a photo on his mobile phone of Berman, of Thurrock, Essex, having sex with two of the 14-year-old girls in a bedroom at Robinson’s flat.

Robinson had first met the girls at a social event in early 2018 and he subsequently messaged one of the girls on social media.

He was told the girls were underage, 14 at the time, before he and Berman met up with them in August 2018.

Robinson, of South Ockendon, Essex, messaged one of the girls before they met, saying: ‘Haha I think your stunning but your age is a killer.’

Berman had even searched the internet for what would happen to someone if they had sex with an underage girl.

Winger Robinson was sacked by Bradford City for gross misconduct in February last year after he was charged by police in February. He scored three goals in 23 appearances for the Bantams between 2017 and 2020. He was also a former youth team player with Arsenal.

Korie Berman at a previous hearing at Bradford Crown Court in June last year

Marie Spenwyn, mitigating for Robinson, told the court: “He is living with these consequences. He became a father last year. He has a partner that stands by him.

“There was a lapse. One that should never have happened, but it was a lapse.”

Sentencing Robinson, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC said: “You clearly took advantage of a teenage girl due to her intoxication.

“The harm you have caused to these three girls and their families is considerable.

“This was classic grooming of an underage girl, Robinson. While you demonstrated you knew her age and recognized that this was “a killer”, as you put it, this did not stop you complimenting her, flirting with her and tempting her to meet with you.

Both men will be subject to sex offender registration requirements for life.

Their names will be placed on a list barring them from working with children or vulnerable adults. Both men were told they would serve half of their sentences before being released on licence for the balance of the sentence.