A Coldstream Guard encouraged a girl aged just 14 to drink cider before he sexually assaulted her as she slept in the back of a car in North Wales.

Jordan Davies, 19, also met another girl aged 14 in a hotel in the Loughborough area with the intention of having unprotected sex with her.

At Mold Crown Court, Davies from Pwllheli but whose address was The Victoria Barracks in Windsor, was sentenced to four years youth detention.

The defendant, who admitted sexual activity with the first girl and meeting the second girl following se.ual grooming, was ordered to register with the police indefinitely as a sex offender.

A life-time sexual harm prevention order was made.

His career in the army, which he had dreamed of since the age of 12 and followed the footsteps of his father and brother, is now at an end because he will be immediately dismissed.

Davies joined the army at 16 and initially served with the Royal Logistics Corps.

He served in Cyprus and in the Faulklands Islands and was currently a chef, a member of the catering team within the officers' mess for the Coldstream Guards and had been trusted to work in various high profile functions.

Judge Huw Rees, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said that the probation service regarded him as a high risk of serious harm to female children.

The judge said that he took the view that he had not deliberately targeted the girls but he "took opportunities as they presented themselves to take advantage of the two girls sexually."

It appeared that he lacked empathy, possibly due to his immaturity.

There was significant mitigation - he had a commendable career in the army which he had now lost but the judge told him: "You only have yourself to blame."

The defendant had no previous convictions and it was a "substantial fall from grace" for the defendant, he said.

But he had offended against two separate girls, both sexually inexperienced, and there was some disparity of age.

"You were the adult. They were not," Judge Rees told him.

The first girl had drunk herself to sleep and could not remember what had happened.

She was a vulnerable child, particularly vulnerable because of intoxication, who could not have consented to what went on in view of her age.

He then met a second child of the same age following a period of sexual grooming and his offending was aggravated by his attempts to dispose of evidence.

"You gave no thought to the welfare of these two girls and their families or to the damage that you were causing," he said.

Prosecuting barrister Elen Owen said that in April last year when the first girl was only just turned 14 she was in a car with the defendant and other young people.

They had been to Caernarfon and to Bangor, it was alleged he engineered a situation where he was sitting with her in the back seat and encouraged her to drink cider "down in one go."

Due to her intoxication she could not recall what happened and woke up in the car in the early hours.

But she was shocked to be told that he had indecently assaulted her.

Two weeks later the mother of another girl aged 14 was told that her daughter had been seen holding hands with an older man and they both had bags with them.

Inquiries led her to a hotel where she found her daughter in the reception area and staff had seen her leaving a hotel room.

Davies was challenged by the mother who called the police.

He was arrested at the barracks in Windsor and accepted what he had done to the girl in the car, and he confirmed that he had paid £130 for a hotel room and intended to have sex with the other girl.

She had asked him to use a condom but he said he intended to have unprotected sex.

The court heard that he had deleted earlier messages he had sent to the girl and had asked her to do the same.

Richard Edwards, defending, said that the first complainant started drinking cider voluntarily and while the defendant accepted he had encouraged her to drink she had been encouraged by the others who were with them.

There was evidence that he and the girl had been laughing, kissing and holding hands earlier and she had not been forced or coersed into the behaviour that led to the charge.

It was not suggested that she was so drunk that she was not in a position to know what she was doing.

He had been open and frank in his admissions to the police.

The career path he had decided upon at the age of 12, had worked so hard to achieve and had excelled in would not longer be available to him.

A custodial sentence would lead to his immediate dismissal.

"His career is over, which is a waste," said Mr Edwards.

But he did not seek to apportion blame or make any excuses. "It is his fault," he said.

"He knows he had ruined his career through this offending."