A babysitter who avoided prison after having sex with an 11-year-old boy has walked free from court again after senior judges ruled her suspended sentence was not unduly lenient. Jade Hatt, 21, of Swindon, was given a suspended sentence in October after her victim's father said his son saw the experience as a 'notch on his belt'.
The case returned to the Court of Appeal in London after Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC argued the sentence was too soft. Lawyers for Mr Wright said Hatt should have gone straight to jail, claiming the crown court judge did not take enough account of the victim's youth and wrongly considered him to be 'emotionally mature'.
But Lord Justice Treacy, sitting with Mrs Justice Simler and Judge John Wait, upheld the suspended term. The judge said: 'This was a proper case for the Attorney General to bring. However after anxious review we have concluded that we should not alter the sentence imposed below.'
The court heard Hatt had straddled the boy while babysitting him and that they had had sex. She pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child at Swindon Crown Court. Refusing to send Hatt to jail, Lord Justice Treacy cited her low IQ and very poor reasoning skills as 'substantial mitigation', along with her remorse and admission of guilt.
The boy's mother had condemned the sentence as 'much too soft', saying: 'It is no different in my eyes, and she got away with it way too lightly.' The judge also noted that a certain type of community sentence was not available for women, which influenced the decision.
