He was a friend once. Not close, but close enough that his arrest felt unreal when I heard about it. They said he'd been grooming an 11 years old girl online and had travelled to Birmingham to meet her. I laughed when I first heard it, not because it was funny, but because my brain refused to accept it. His girlfriend rang me days later and asked if I would speak as a character witness. I said no before she finished the question. Apparently it wasn't his first offence. What still chills me most is how he was caught ' the girl's friend saw pictures of her 'boyfriend' and realised no child looks that old. She told her mum. He was 31 when his real life stopped.