Carer had af fair with boy of 16... but is spared jail
A CARE worker who struck up a sexual relationship with a vulnerable teenage boy has been spared jail.
Kayleigh Martin, 26, started the inappropriate affair with the 16year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after being handed his case.
The pair met at a residential centre which offers support for troubled teenagers and young adults.
They exchanged a series of explicit messages before carrying out sex acts in the Lanarkshire-based unit which offers oneto-one help for youngsters.
Horrified bosses called in police when the affair came to light and she was arrested in July last year. Martin, of Hamilton, Lanark Martin, appeared at Lanark Sheriff Court and went on trial where she denied all wrongdoing.
But she was convicted of engaging in sexual activity with the teenager while in a position of trust and sending a sexual communication.
She was placed under supervision for two years and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work by Sheriff Nikola Stewart, who criticised her ‘appalling behaviour’. who now works in retail, was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for two years and banned from contacting the teenager.
Archie Hill, defending, said: ‘There is simply no prospect of her going into [social services] ever again.
‘The lady maintains her position and I would have been shocked if she had changed that because she is vehement in her denial of this offence.
‘She only had some experience of the job and there were some texts that were inapproshire,