HANNAH HARRIS, TEACHING ASSISTANT IN HODDESDON, FOUND GUILTY OF SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH 14-YEAR-OLD
A 23-year-old teaching assistant has been convicted of engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old boy in a supermarket car park.The boy was a student at a school in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, where Hannah Harris worked.
Harris deceived the boy's parents by claiming to be the mother of a fictional girl named Kayla, who supposedly was the boy's girlfriend.
Her deception was uncovered in 2020 when the boy's older brother discovered the truth.
At St Albans Crown Court, it was revealed that Harris had contacted the boy's parents, introducing herself as Olivia and stating that her teenage daughter Kayla was their son’s girlfriend.
In one of her texts, Harris wrote: "Seems Kayla and [the boy] are getting on well, so I am happy to ferry them around." Prosecutor Simon Wilshire explained, "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'".
The court heard that when the victim's older brother discovered the relationship in January 2020, the boy confessed that both Olivia and Kayla were imaginary personas.
Once the parents learned the truth, they realized they had unknowingly facilitated contact between Harris and their son, having been duped into believing he was involved with a peer.
Wilshire noted, "They had been duped by the boy into the belief he was seeing someone of his own age." Harris, employed as a teaching assistant at the school, would have been aware of the boy's age, and any sexual contact with a minor is a criminal offence regardless of the boy's perceived willingness.
Harris admitted in police interviews that the initial contact was initiated when the boy sent her a message on Instagram.
She stated she replied and continued to communicate until she agreed to meet him outside school hours.
Harris, from Harrier Mill in Henlow, Bedfordshire, denied four charges of sexual activity with a child between December 2019 and January 2020.
Three of these charges pertained to alleged offences at Dunstable Downs and her home, but she was acquitted by the jury on those counts.
However, she was found guilty of one charge for having sex with the boy in a supermarket car park.
Following her conviction, defense lawyer Julia Flanagan said Harris was currently in a stable relationship and mentioned she had experienced mental health issues.
Flanagan added that Harris had returned to her previous job in IT, which she held before becoming a teaching assistant.
Judge Caroline Wigin sentenced her to custody, indicating that she believed imprisonment was inevitable.
Harris was granted bail on the condition that she observe a curfew from 19:00 to 07:00 GMT and register as a sex offender.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 9.
