Would you continue to see him if you found this out?

I was going to stop at no!!! Like most responders but wondered if youd benefit from thinking about this:

Do you realise how hard it is for a man to get a criminal conviction for sex with a girl over the age of statutory rape (12 I think in the UK) but under 16 if it was "consensual"? Do you know in the law there is a bit which states if the child is over 13 and under 16 but you could reasonably believe they were over 16 thats a defence - that he tried and got found guilty anyway? Im not convinced of his version of events. Not at all.

Early 20s - is that 21 or 25? Because honestly older he was the worse it gets. If you are even remotely tempted to overlook this.. make a Claires law request.. heck maybe even Google his name.

No.

This is my take on it.

The chances of getting a case of a man having sex with a 15 year old into court is absolutely tiny. Even more so years ago.

Chances of getting a conviction even more tiny.

And men who give a shit about who they are fucking know. I had a full time job and lived alone at 16. I had basically brought myself up since the age of 12 when my Nana started getting dementia. I looked older, I acted older and my life appeared older. However, anyone that took more than ten mins to know me would know, you don't have to ask many questions to realise someone isn't the same age as you. Men that didn't bother asking any questions were the ones that didn't know.

no I would not.

15 with a 19 year old is very different to 15 and 25.

I was 15 when I lied and slept with a 19 year old. He absolutely didn't know. And it was shocking behaviour from me. I'd have hated it if he got in trouble for this. It would have been extremely unfair.

All depends on the circumstances for me.

I do no think it is common at all for men to be having sex with underage girls not knowing they are underage or possibly questioning they are and any decent man would back off straight away

I think its very common for men to want to have sex with underage girls, lets call it what it is rape, and will happily pretend they were fooled into thinking they were older

Predatory men are not stupid and extremely manipulative

Many children of 15 look older, spend a bit of time with them and you soon realise they are not

The down playing of predatory men who rape children on this thread is really depressing

This thread is an eye-opener.

Yes, it's really common for girls under 16 to look older than their age, have fake IDs, go to over-18s clubs, and sleep with adult men who may genuinely not know how old they are.

However, it's really rare for a case of statutory rape not only to be prosecuted, but to lead to a conviction AND a custodial sentence (albeit suspended). There must have been aggravating factors.

There is absolutely more to this than he has told the OP. I can only hope that the apologists on this thread are minimising the situation through simple ignorance.

I would continue seeing him as long as there were no other red flags. My 15 year old friend dated a 22 year old for ages without him knowing she was under age. If this was a one off at an event she could easily have looked older.
When I was 21 I looked about 15, it's very hard to tell someone's age.
If he has KNOWN her age I would be answering very differently.

This is my understanding too @Highlightnight

I think you should use your head and your gut to decide whether to continue. Things I’d take into consideration are: did he tell you himself and is he under any ongoing restrictions (eg SO register - I’d guess not if happened pre 03. How does he feel about it now would be a big thing for me.

People will judge if you tell them, and that’s understandable I guess. If it’s something you can’t get past then I think you should let it go now. But I don’t think it’s impossible if you feel confident about his behaviour now.

He’s a convicted sex offender, so no I wouldn’t want anything to do with him.
There is no consensual sex with a child under 16. But if he genuinely didn’t know her age that would have been a defence but he was convicted so I don’t buy that.
Which means he’s still lying about it. So many red flags.
What can you possibly see in this low life that would let you overlook it?

This conviction will be on his record for a long time, it will stop him from getting certain jobs so if you are planning on making a future with him consider that he may get turned away from certain job roles.
he may even be on the children's barred list?
hard no from me snd I was the same in the 90’s snd used to lie about my age but this is wrong, he was 25!

Not a hope in hell that’s what u know about him what has he done that he didnt get caught out from? Stay away
especially if u have kids

So he was 25 and had sex with a 15-year old girl, ten years younger than him. Even before 2003, it would have been illegal for an adult male to have sex with a minor. You seem to think that he was unfairly convicted on a technicality rather than being disgusted that he had sex with an under-aged girl.

No, I definitely wouldn't continue to see him. Predatory men will always use the 'she didn't look 15' excuse when having sex with an underage girl. If it went to court, there would have been evidence provided that he knew she was under age and he was obviously found guilty, even if his sentence was suspended.

Hard no.

so he is in his 40s now?
i guess he hasnt had any more convictions

Yes many of us did have older boyfriends and were pretending we were older

and people KNEW we were pretending but why let that get in the way of disgusting men wanting sex with underage girls

sadly op this man’s manipulation is already working on you, you have already down played his age and fallen for his excuses

please wise up

Hmm, at 15 many, many of my friends were going to pubs and clubs and saying we were 18 to all and sundry. This was in the 90s and it was pretty normal. I went to an all girls school and literally everyone in my year was out most weekends frequenting pubs and snogging boys/men and drinking with our fake Ids. So if he is from that era, its quite possible he did not know she did tell him she was 18 at the time and maybe her parents found out and got him arrested.
Or maybe not, but how could you find out?

There is a big difference in maturity between a 15 year old and someone in their early 20s. Its not impossible he thought she was older but it's more likely that he had a good idea she was a good bit younger. Think when you were in secondary school for example. Would you notice a difference between first years and leaving certs. Would you have mistaken a first year for a leaving cert student for example. Could you have accidentally dated a guy who was years younger at that age without realising

Assume that 22 is a typo - how old was she?

My son is 21 and his girlfriend 22 - neither of them drive. Lots of teens don't as it's bloody expensive.

She was with her friends in the club where they met. They met up with them a few times in a pub. She talked about her job as a waitress in a pub so I guess that covered that.
I wouldn't expect meet parents in a relationship of a couple of months.

Again, I don't condone it at all but he genuinely didn't know. They probably met up about 8/9 times in a couple of months.

But how did it even go to court for him to get found guilty if it was an obviously defensible mistake and she told him she was 18? Who then reported it to the police? Things don’t add up.

Oh no I totally get it - but nobody thought to ask as she talked about her work in a pub. I am not condoning him at all but he really didn't know. I only ever saw pictures of them.

I posted about this recently. If he fucked a 15 year old pre 2004 he cannot be convicted if it was reported after 12 months. Disgusting laws written by child rapists.