A primary school teacher has been jailed for 12 months and banned from working with children for life after admitting to sending sexually explicit messages to a 14-year-old boy. Lynn Walls, 42, from Penshaw, Wearside, sent the teenager crude texts and falsely claimed to have breast cancer, causing lasting emotional damage, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The pair first made contact through the online game World of Warcraft before swapping mobile phone numbers. Despite knowing the boy's age, Walls sent messages inviting him to have sex with her. Prosecutor Penny Moreland described the language as 'crude and explicit in the extreme'. Walls also confided childhood problems and said she loved him, placing an emotional burden on the victim.
The boy's mother said her son, now 15, had changed dramatically since the offences in November 2007. He expressed suicidal thoughts, became abusive, suffered from a 'phobia of people', and his school attendance deteriorated. The family is receiving counselling as a result of the abuse.
Judge Richard Lowden said he had initially not intended to impose a custodial sentence until he read the mother's victim impact statement. 'It is not just the grossly inappropriate sexual conduct of the message that has done the damage, but to my mind, more damaging was the emotional burden that you put upon that boy,' he said. Walls was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.
In mitigation, the court heard that Walls had been married for 20 years until she discovered her husband's affair. She became a recluse and spent hours playing World of Warcraft, creating a character that was 'thin, attractive and blonde' – 'everything I was not', she told police. Her defence barrister, Nick Peacock, said Walls accepted full responsibility.
