Childminder Sent Explicit Text Messages To Her Friend’s Son, Aged 13

A childminder who sent explicit mobile-phone texts to a boy of 13 escaped a prison sentence yesterday after a sheriff said there were no sex-offender programmes for women behind bars.

Debbie Lane, 35, was instead ordered to serve 200 hours’ community service and was put on probation for three years, after admitting lewd and libidinous practices.

Lane, a married mother of two and former Scout leader, formed a close relationship with the boy through her friendship with his mother – the court heard she had trusted Lane to look after her children while she was at work.

But the woman became concerned about the friendship her son was developing with Lane. She contacted the police after finding that her friend had been bombarding her son with explicit text messages.

Sheriff Ian Dunbar said while he had considered sending her to jail, he accepted “that prison resources to deal with sex offenders tend to be concentrated on male offenders”.

He said: “The charge of this sort is not one which one normally sees committed by a female.”

The sheriff went on: “The protection of children… is an important consideration in sentencing. I do not see that the work to address your behaviour that appears to be required could be done in a custodial setting.

“This is due to the relatively short length of sentence that might be appropriate. And it is also due to the fact that prison resources to deal with sex offenders tend to be concentrated on male offenders.”

Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard that Lane, from Rosyth, had developed a close relationship with the boy after his parents had split up, and she attempted to help his mother to cope with the break-up.

The boy’s mother became concerned about his friendship with Lane about New Year 2006, but she initially dismissed her fears.

However, the court heard she had been deeply shocked by the “overtly sexual nature” of a text message Lane sent to her son on 16 January last year. She alerted police, who took her son’s phone and found Lane had sent several similar text messages to the boy over a ten-day period.

The sheriff said he had seen the messages, which were “all of the most explicit nature”, and the boy was undergoing counselling.

He said he would refer the case to Scottish ministers to include her name on the list of persons who were unsuitable to work with children.

At an earlier court hearing, Sheriff Dunbar had placed Lane on the sex offenders register and, as a condition of her bail before yesterday’s appearance, he had banned her from being alone with any child under 16 – other than her own children.

Ian Beatson, defending, said that Lane, who suffered from the chronic fatigue syndrome ME, blamed her behaviour on antidepressants she had been taking.

The boy’s mother, who for legal reasons cannot be named, said: “That a mother and a wife would do something like this, not to mention a close friend, is terrifying.”

NO TREATMENT PROGRAMMES FOR ‘IGNORED’ ISSUE

MORE than 220 women were convicted of sexual crimes in Scotland in 2004-5, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Despite that there are no programmes offered in Scotland’s prisons designed for women sex offenders.

The prison service says there is little demand for such treatment as there are only a “handful” of female sex offenders in jail.

Dr Julia Davidson, an expert in the treatment of sex offenders, says prison managers should consider providing such treatment.

“Saying there are only a few female sex offenders in prison isn’t really an excuse,” said Dr Davidson, of Westminster University.

“Both the system in Scotland and the one in England and Wales have ignored the issue. One of the problems is, not enough is known about the motivation of female sex offenders.”