A private maths tutor who sexually abused her teenage student has been jailed for six years.
Holly Rouse-Sweeney, 37, arranged to meet the vulnerable boy at her old home in Nottinghamshire.
Despite being aware that he was under the age of consent, Rouse-Sweeney had sexual contact with the tutee on ‘several occasions’, police said.
In May last year, the teenager’s mother found inappropriate WhatsApp messages on his phone and phoned the police.
Rouse-Sweeney acknowledged the abuse and even referenced the boy’s true age across a raft of diary pages on her laptop, which police combed through.
She told the authorities that her actions had been influenced by a long-standing mental health condition.
Rouse-Sweeney, of Campden Road, Hebden Bridge, a town in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a boy, and four counts of causing a boy to engage in sexual activity.
She was jailed last Friday, adding her to the sex offender’s register and is now the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
Such orders tightly restrict people’s activities after they’re released from jail, ranging from not being able to travel abroad to using the internet. The details of Rouse-Sweeney’s are unclear.
Rouse-Sweeney was also handed a restraining order forbidding her from any future contact with her victim.
Detective Constable Keeley Bringhurst, a child abuse specialist at Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘This was an appalling breach of trust by a woman who had been trusted to spend time with a vulnerable child.
‘Instead of teaching him mathematics she cynically took advantage of him for her own sexual gratification.
‘I know this abuse has had a significant impact on the victim and his family and I hope they will be comforted by this very strong sentence.’ (Metro)