Babysitter who had sex with 11-year-old escapes jail after the boy's own father defended her in court
Jade Hatt, 21, had sex with an 11-year-old boy while babysitting him
But his father - who is Hatt's ex-lover - defended her, saying his son is 'sex mad' and was 'fully up for this experience'
NSPCC said the sentence 'beggars belief' and claimed Hatt would have been more harshly punished if she were a man
Hatt was arrested and pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child, saying that the boy had told her he was 15 even though his father had previously told her his real age.
'He would have been fully up for this experience and in many ways sees it as a notch on his belt and is totally unaffected by it.'
Mr Ross said Hatt, who spent two years in hospital with leukaemia as a child, 'clearly doesn't operate at the level of a 20-year-old' and was honest with the police about what had taken place.
Judge Tim Mousley QC said that the case was so exceptional that he could go beyond the usual sentencing guidelines.
He said: 'Having read everything before me, it was quite clear he was a mature 11-year-old and you were an immature 20-year-old so that narrows the arithmetic age gap between you.'
Hatt was given a six-month suspended prison sentence, ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years, and banned from having unsupervised contact with young boys.
After the sentencing, a spokesman for the NSPCC said: 'The judge’s comments in this case send out completely the wrong message and confirm a common view in society that the abuse of a young boy by a woman is somehow less serious than the abuse of a girl by a man.
'The offender in this case has escaped extremely lightly and you have to wonder whether, in the same circumstances, a man would have been treated the same’.
'It beggars belief that Tim Mousley QC could say that the 11 year old victim’s maturity and the abuser’s immaturity "narrowed the age gap" and was reason to step outside the sentencing guidelines, and sends a deeply worrying signal.'
In a statement, the boy's father said: 'I know he told her he was 15. He looks older than his years. He is sex mad.
'He would have been fully up for this experience and in many ways sees it as a notch on his belt and is totally unaffected by it.'
Mr Ross said Hatt, who spent two years in hospital with leukaemia as a child, 'clearly doesn't operate at the level of a 20-year-old' and was honest with the police about what had taken place.
Judge Tim Mousley QC said that the case was so exceptional that he could go beyond the usual sentencing guidelines.
He said: 'Having read everything before me, it was quite clear he was a mature 11-year-old and you were an immature 20-year-old so that narrows the arithmetic age gap between you.'
Hatt was given a six-month suspended prison sentence, ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years, and banned from having unsupervised contact with young boys.
After the sentencing, a spokesman for the NSPCC said: 'The judge’s comments in this case send out completely the wrong message and confirm a common view in society that the abuse of a young boy by a woman is somehow less serious than the abuse of a girl by a man.
'The offender in this case has escaped extremely lightly and you have to wonder whether, in the same circumstances, a man would have been treated the same’.
'It beggars belief that Tim Mousley QC could say that the 11 year old victim’s maturity and the abuser’s immaturity "narrowed the age gap" and was reason to step outside the sentencing guidelines, and sends a deeply worrying signal.'
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