A PERVERT from Oldbury who escaped prosecution for three years for carrying out a string of sex attacks on a schoolgirl has finally been locked up after a failed suicide bid.

Wesley Cooper, who had tried shoot himself in the mouth, later told investigators he was a paedophile and he was "finding it difficult to deal with matters."

Cooper had been interviewed by police in 2012 after his 13-year-old victim revealed what he had been doing but they opted to take no action on the basis there was not enough evidence.

The 53-year-old had strenuously denied everything the girl told police but in June 2015 he made his suicide bid, said Sally Hancox prosecuting.

She told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Cooper finally made his dramatic admissions while being assessed by a mental health professional and they ruled in the end he did not have any psychiatric problems.

Cooper, of Peel Way, admitted six charges of sexual activity with a child and he was jailed for seven and a half years by Judge Kristina Montgomery QC.

She further made him the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further notice and said he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The judge told Cooper: "It took a significant breakdown in your mental health for the truth to come forward."

She said it was clear he had groomed his victim who had been "deliberately targeted" and the discrepancy between their ages was a matter of great concern to the court.