Lindy Leah, 44, has been jailed for a total of 23 months
A married mum who claimed she had “fallen in love” with a vulnerable teen has been jailed – as the boy’s mother wept while reading her victim impact statement.
Lindy Leah, 44, met the boy while he was living at a care home in St Helens, Merseyside, where she was worked as deputy manager. She was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with him. Although she denied abusing a position of trust to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, she was found guilty after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court last month, Liverpool Echo reports.
On Monday, Leah, of Capesthorne Road in Orford, Warrington, appeared for sentencing via video link from HMP Styal, where the court was reminded how she sent WhatsApp messages asking the teenager for “a love bite” and encouraging him to join her on a drug-fuelled “night away from everyone”.
Lindy Leah showed no emotion throughout the sentencing – including as the victim’s mother wept
Prosecutor Graham Pickavance said in court: “This was a very serious and sustained breach of trust over many months. Aggravating factors include the location of the offence. This was a damaged child in care and the defendant was employed to care for and protect him.”
He added: “To ask him to go ‘missing from care’ to go and spent a night together with her in ‘silky and red’, together with ‘balloons and flake’ which is code for drugs, it’s not just a simple matter of a kiss and a cuddle. It shows there was going to be a proper, full relationship.”
Breaking down in tears, the victim’s mum said: “I can’t begin to describe the devastation that has rocked my family from the moment we found out what had been happening to my son. Shock, anger, betrayal and feelings and failure have plagued me for the past year. But it isn’t about me.”
She told the court she made the decision to put her son in care after she “couldn’t give him the care he needed”.
The mum explained: “I handed over one of the most important persons in my life to people I thought would help him. It was not an easy decision, it was the hardest decision in my life. But knowing my son still had a family who loved him, I hoped he could move into a more positive place with the help of professionals who knew how to deal with a child like him. This is where the feelings of being a failure and guilt comes in. I had unintentionally handed my son to a predator.
“Lindy Leah said she loved my son. Predators do not look for love, they look to manipulate and control. She found a vulnerable young boy who was angry at the world and hurting from being what he thought was cast out from his immediate family. She even had the audacity to stand in the box and say no one cared for or loved him. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
“She groomed him with attention, money, gifts, and she became his accomplice. She built a toxic trust so when he broke the rules and carried on down that dangerous path, she actively encouraged him by covering up for him.
“She isolated him from his family. She downplayed his destructive, criminal behaviour while spoiling him with money and fake love. She did this so she could control him. She would manipulate him, take his phone from him in jealousy as a means to bribe him.
“It’s sickening how someone in her position can abuse someone so vulnerable. I spoke in my witness statement of how jealous [I was] of the relationship she had with my son. Now I’m just filled with rage at her and myself at not seeing through her.
“There’s no closure to be had. No sentence great enough to compensate for the hurt, damage and destruction she has wrought on my son and our family. My son is coming to terms with the fact that the relationship with Lindy Leah was wrong. All I can do now as his mum is be there for him.”
Addressing Leah, the devastated mum said: “You stood there saying over and over again that you were my son’s mother. What kind of mother would do that to a child? You’re not his mother, I am and always will be.”
Liverpool Crown Court (file)
Leah remained emotionless throughout the sentencing. Rebecca Filletti, defending Leah, said she had “mental health difficulties in respect of anxiety and depression following the loss of her father, and a physical ailment requiring treatment”.
She continued: “I in no way wish to undermine the nature of the offence of which she has been found guilty. Although it’s clear from the mitigation documents that there’s an element of acceptance. She is ashamed about her behaviour more broadly, she acknowledges the impact on all involved including the victim as well as her own family.
“There are indications this is a lady who has been affected by her time in custody, has certainly learned from that, and she’s indicated a desire that she wants to provided contribute to society moving forward.”
Leah also pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of class B drugs, after text messages discussing the sale of cannabis resin and ketamine were found on her phone.
She has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for inciting a child to engage in sexual activity while in a position of trust, along with a further eight months for involvement in the supply of Class B drugs – a total of 23 months.
