Mum, 40, made boy, 15, her 'sexual plaything', then had his baby

A mother who sexually abused a schoolboy for month before eventually giving birth to his child has been jailed.

Sarah Campbell, 40, had sex with her 15-year-old victim on a golf course and under a blanket while others were sleeping in the same room.

Campbell, of Bootle, Merseyside, carried out the “atrocious abuse” on the boy for a full year from January 2016 to January 2017.

Campbell would ply the boy with cocaine and cannabis as part of her plot to make him her “sexual plaything”, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Martine Snowdon, prosecuting, said Campbell would try to avoid social services and others finding the boy by getting him to sneak into her house at odd times of day and night.

She then fell pregnant with a child later determined to be his and was charged with multiple sexual offences against him.

Campbell was sent for trial at Liverpool Crown Court but fled after its start and was convicted in her absence.

She was later arrested and held in custody.

Simon Christie, defending, said Campbell was herself a victim of abuse and was trying to get counselling for this in prison while also using her time there positively.

Jailing her for nine and a half years, judge Ian Harris told Campbell her actions had robbed the boy of part of his childhood.

Campbell stood motionless with her head down and her hands placed against the dock for a number of minutes before sitting down and placing her head in her hands for the rest of the hearing.

A family member then shouted “I’m going to do what I can” and said “I know the truth”. As they left they added, “I am going to go now, hold your head up high.”

Speaking after her sentencing, DS Peter Sloan from Merseyside Police said: “The atrocious abuse that Campbell carried out not only traumatises victims when it happens, but has a huge impact on their mental wellbeing which can last a lifetime.

“It can also cause irreparable damage to a victim’s faith and trust in adults, which can affect their ability to form trusting relationships.

“The bravery shown by the victim and his family in coming forward and reporting Campbell to police so that that she could be brought to justice means she cannot cause any further harm.”

Campbell was previously charged with sexual offences relating to another boy but these charges were not proceeded with by the prosecution.