IT STARTED with a Facebook chat and led to a meet-up in a South Tamworth park, but now a man has been jailed for seven years for grooming a teenage girl.

Jordan Hawkins remains behind bars until at least 2027 after he was sentenced for three offences against a 15-year-old girl in South Tamworth in September 2023.

The now 26-year-old watched on via video link from custody in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court as Judge Craig Everson jailed him for three offences including sexual intercourse with a child occasioning actual bodily harm, and grooming a child for sexual activity.

The Leader can now reveal the details of the offending after the sentence was handed down, after the case was moved from Tamworth.

The court heard the teenage girl was living in an out-of-home care situation a

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