A FORMER city hotel owner has admitted a charge of sexually grooming a boy under 16.
Michael Paul Hart Jones, 53, pleaded guilty to the offence at Swansea Crown Court.
The charge says that between June 2011 and January 2012, Jones contacted the boy not reasonably believing he was 16 or over and that he intended sexual activity would have taken place either at, or following, that meeting.
Jones, a former owner of the White House Hotel in Uplands, admitted contacting the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on two earlier occasions before going to his home.
Jones, of Whitethorn Place, Sketty, who was also a former secretary of the Swansea Bay Branch of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), pleaded not guilty to three other charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity between the same date and with the same victim, but the prosecution accepted the single plea.
Prosecuting barrister Patrick Griffiths said: "This is clearly an unusual case and it's a case where the prosecution don't wish the complainant to give evidence. He (the victim) is a vulnerable and immature young man. The defendant admits there had been previous contact with the complainant, who was 15 at the time."
He said Jones had admitted he intended to have non-penetrative sex with the boy on the occasion where Jones arrived at his home, but said the meeting did not progress to a face-to-face meeting because Jones was not able to enter his house.
Mr Griffiths said the prosecution accepted the single guilty plea because it contained details of previous contact between Jones and the boy which would have been duplicated in the three further counts.
The case was adjourned until May 17 for Jones to be sentenced.
Jones, who was also a former director of Tourism Swansea Bay, was given conditional bail.
