A TEACHING assistant sent sly texts to a pupil's mum to convince her that her son was safe – before having sex with him in a Wilko car park.

Hannah Harris, 23, developed a relationship with the 14-year-old at a school in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, where she worked.

St Albans Crown Court heard that Harris, who was 21 at the time, tricked the boy's parents by texting them claiming to be the mother of the boy's fictional girlfriend.

Harris had sex with the boy in a Wilko car park after posing as the mum of his fictional girlfriend – who she named "Kayla" – to speak to his parents over texts.

Harris and the boy also exchanged social media messages and met up outside of school, which included her driving him to supermarkets "to buy him his favourite sweets", taking him to McDonald's and letting him smoke cannabis in her car.

Harris was today jailed for six years after being found guilty of sexual activity with a child. The ex-teaching assistant had denied the charges.

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She said her name was Olivia and she lived in Baldock, Hertfordshire.

In one text Harris wrote: "Seems Kayla and …(the boy) are getting on well, so I am happy to ferry them around."

Prosecutor Simon Wilshire told St Albans crown court: “Both parents believed they had spoken to Olivia on the phone and his mum had exchanged texts.

“The names Kayla and Olivia were fictions to hide the fact they were meeting up.

“The parents were in fact talking to Ms Harris as that was the number they had been given for Olivia.”

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Harris was caught in January 2020 when the boy’s older brother found out.

The boy admitted "Olivia" and "Kayla" were fictional.

Mr Wilshire said: “When the parents became aware, they realised they had unwittingly facilitated the contact. They had been duped by the boy into the belief he was seeing someone of his own age.”

He went on: “As a teaching assistant at his school she (Harris) would have known his age – such activity is a criminal offence regardless of whether he believed himself to be a willing party.”

Harris, from Henlow, Bedfordshire, denied four charges of sexual activity with a child in December 2019 and January 2020.

She was found not guilty on three of the four charges.

They were alleged to have taken place twice on Dunstable Downs and once at her home.

SICK CRIMES

Sentencing Harris today, Judge Caroline Wigin told her: "Your conduct has had a devastating effect upon the life of that young man."

She found that Harris's behaviour was an "abuse of trust", "constituted grooming" and involved "significant planning".

"I find that you disregarded all the warnings that you had," Judge Wigin said.

"You were well aware, I find, that his messages should have been screenshotted by you and reported to senior staff. You did not do that."

Harris began sobbing as the judge handed down the sentence.

Before the sentencing, Julia Flanagan, defending, argued that the messages and trips had not been geared specifically towards facilitating a sexual relationship with the boy.

Judge Wigin cut in, saying: "It is utterly inappropriate to form any relationship of any kind," before adding that Harris would have been aware of this from her training.

"She chose to disregard that. She chose to abuse this trust," the judge added.

'ABUSE OF TRUST'

Ms Flanagan also argued that Harris did not "specifically target this particular boy" since he was the one who first messaged her and initially drove that communication.

The defence barrister added that a conviction of this kind "will follow her forever" and will be "a lifetime punishment for what she did.

"And she bitterly regrets that she became involved with (the boy) and she wanted me to tell the court that she did not intend to cause him any harm."

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Harris, from Henlow, Bedfordshire, was jailed for six years at St Albans Crown Court.

She will serve half her sentence in custody and the remainder on licence.

She has also been placed on the sex offenders register "indefinitely".

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