A teenager who raped a “vulnerable” 12-year-old girl he met on Facebook has today been jailed for four years.

Fatmir Matraxhi, 18, spoke to the victim on the social media site before meeting her in September last year and having sex with her in his Whitechapel flat.

The Romford girl’s Facebook page said she was 18 and she didn’t reveal her real age until after the sexual activity, but judge Joanna Kormer told Matraxhi her appearance should have “aroused suspicion”.

“She was a particularly vulnerable child and anxious to please,” she said. “You didn’t go to your flat to have sex with her, the sex was consensual.

“But her appearance should have led you to make inquiries as to whether she really was 18.

Matraxhi admitted to rape of a girl under 13 and sexual assault of a girl under 13 in December.

At Snaresbrook Crown Court the judge told him: “The reason this is a crime, however much the girl may be willing, is because girls of this age must be protected from themselves, their desires to please men and appear older than they are and to prevent men from exploiting this.”

Matraxhi and his cousin met the victim at Dagenham Heathway before going back to his flat in Sidney Street.

There the girl had a couple of alcoholic drinks before lying down in bed, where she was joined by Matraxhi.

Prosecutor Mark Kimsey told the court he then removed her underwear and sexually assaulted her. He didn’t stop despite her telling him to.

She then agreed to stay the night and had consensual sex with him.

The girl originally told police Matraxhi knew her age before having sex with her, but today she told Mr Kimsey she didn’t tell him until afterwards.

Judge Korner said Matraxhi’s age, his guilty plea and the fact he had not been in trouble before were all mitigating factors.

She jailed him for four years for rape and six months, to run concurrently, for sexual assault. Upon his release he will be deported back to Albania.