13-year-old girl sexually groomed via Roblox platform leading to in-person encounter and four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for perpetrator

Summary

A 13-year-old girl was groomed online by Michael Shablinger, a 36-year-old man from Germany, through the video game platform Roblox. Shablinger met the victim in May 2023 when she was 12 and, in June 2024, met her in person at a park in Hethersett, Norfolk, where he spent five hours with her before she was found by her mother. During the encounter, Shablinger gave the girl a "secret" phone on which a picture of them kissing was later found, along with messages indicating he had asked her to "leave the country to be with him." Shablinger was arrested at Heathrow Airport on June 23, 2024, as he attempted to fly to Munich, and his phone was found to contain over 800 indecent images of children, including the victim. In court on January 9, Shablinger admitted to meeting a child following sexual grooming, engaging in sexual activity with a child, and possessing indecent images, and was sentenced to four and a half years in custody plus four years on licence. He was also placed on the sex offenders' register and banned from contacting the victim.