'Manipulative' Leeds mother ignored warnings of paedophile partner who then repeatedly raped her young son

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court today after a judge told her she put the relationship with sex offender “before the needs of her children”.

She admitted a charge of child cruelty or neglect after she was given numerous warnings by social services about associating with the man. He is now serving a life sentence having been found guilty after a trial.

Prosecuting the case, Allan Armbrister said of the mother: “At best, she could be described as naive, and at worst, manipulative. She was in a relationship she knew she should not have engaged in and put her own children in danger.”

The court heard that she started the relationship with the paedophile in 2014. It was not long before the defendant’s daughter told her that the man had sexually assaulted her, but the woman did not believe her and her claims were dismissed. It was made clear to the woman that he had been previously convicted of a serious sex assault on a girl.

It later emerged he had targeted the young boy over the years, raping him multiple times between the age of four and eight. He was arrested and put on trial after denying the allegations.

Mitigating for the 50-year-old woman, who is from an inner-city estate in Leeds, James Littlehales said she had been sexually abused by her own father when she was a child, and had endured physically-abusive relationships with men as an adult.

He said: “It’s clearly apparent that she is an inadequate woman and has suffered abuse herself. It’s clearly impacted on her behaviour and relationship with others.”

Jailing her for three-and-a-half years, the judge, Recorder Tony Hawks said: “This is a very sad and serious case. You started this relationship with a man who is a registered sex offender. Your own daughter at the time made complaints of a sexual nature against him.

“You were warned on a number of occasions by social services to not have him in your home and you ignored that.

"It’s a tragedy in this case that the police were not involved because he must have subject to a sexual harm prevention order and was plainly in breach of that, but nothing happened. What did happen is that he took advantage of having access to your son. He repeatedly raped that fragile and vulnerable little boy.

"You are a person with a tragic history. It must be extremely difficult to come to terms with what you allowed to happen. I’m sure you now regret that you put your relationship with that man before the needs of your children.

"You knew perfectly well you were living with a serious registered sex offender. You continued to allow this man into your house with unrestricted access to that boy.”