Mother spared jail over ‘serious sexual offences’

A MOTHER who groomed a 15-year-old boy and left him suicidal has been spared jail after the judge said her attraction was a “one off ”.

Nicole Lines, 28, gave the teenager alcohol and cannabis before entering a sexual relationship with him, Canterbury Crown court heard.

Jurors heard how Lines, a mother of three, had invited the boy to her family home in Ramsgate, Kent to console her when she was upset.

After becoming intimate, the teenager reported Lines to the police, saying he felt “exploited” by her actions and “emotionally unstable”.

Prosecutor Jai Patel told the court: “The relationship was very emotional and volatile, he became suicidal or at least expressed suicidal thoughts, and thoughts of self-harm.”

However, Judge Rupert Lowe said he was convinced she was not predatory and became attracted to the boy as a “one-off ”. He told Lines, who cried in the dock: “It is clear from the messages I’ve seen, you and he regarded yourselves as being in a loving relationship which you both valued and his mother was going along with it.”

Judge Lowe, while calling her actions “serious sexual offences”, added that the boy felt “he had hit the jackpot, he was in love, he was getting plenty of sex, he was being provided with drugs and alcohol and he thought everything was great.”

“In retrospect, he felt exploited and has suffered significant upset and stress as a result of that ill-advised relationship. He blames you, and rightly so, because you were an adult.”

Lines admitted to two counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of possessing indecent images of a child, and supply and possession of a Class B drug.

The indecent images were of the boy she groomed.

She was handed two years in prison, but the sentence was suspended for two years.

Lines had told detectives that she “knew what she was doing was wrong but he kept coming to her”.

She was ordered to complete 60 probation days and 10 years of notification requirements.