Gainsborough woman sexually groomed teens with fags and booze

A Gainsborough woman convicted of sexually abusing a string of teenagers was jailed at Lincoln Crown Court on Thursday.

Kirsty Beattie, 29, invited the “vulnerable” youngsters into her home and groomed them with cigarettes and drink before carrying out the offences.

Beattie, of The Green, Gainsborough, was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of six charges of sexual activity with a child and four charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. She denied all the charges which involved five girls and two boys.

She previously pleaded guilty to two further charges of child cruelty.

Beattie was jailed for three-and-a-half years. She was placed on the sex offenders register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Julie Warburton, passing sentence, told Beattie: “You invited these children into your home to hang out and treated them to cigarettes and sometimes alcohol.

“You claimed you were trying to help these youngsters to keep them off the streets and provide them with a safe haven. You did anything but.

“Over a period of months there were a number of occasions when sexual activity occurred. This was not just a one-off.

“The children were targeted for their vulnerability and there was grooming. Even after social services warned you to stop contact you persisted and the youngsters were told to use your back door in order to avoid being seen.

“These offences are so serious that only custodial sentences are appropriate.”

Caroline Bray, prosecuting, said: “She opened her home to vulnerable, disaffected teenagers.

“Initially there was no sexual offending but there was grooming. Cigarettes and on occasions alcohol was provided.

“It was somewhere where they could smoke and the usual rules did not apply.”

Miss Bray said that Beattie claimed to be a bra-fitter and put her hands under the tops of girls.

On another occasion at a party she unsuccessfully tried to persuade a teenage boy to carry out a sex offence against a young girl but he refused.

She also kissed two boys in a sexual way.

Miss Bray said: “She denied any sexual activity of any sort. She suggested all seven of the children were lying and this was a series of malicious allegations.”

Katrina Wilson, in mitigation, said Beattie was of previous good character and since her arrest has engaged with the authorities.

“She was troubled in her own right. In the 20 months since there has been no suggestion of anything else occurring.”