Natalie Harris
Natalie HarrisNatalie Harris has been jailed for four years after admitting four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child – David Clarke/Solent News & Photo Agency
Agency report
A mother-of-six has been jailed after she had sex with two 13-year-old boys in her son’s bedroom while he was at school.
Natalie Harris, 36, sent sexual messages to one of the schoolboys on Snapchat before inviting them both to her address in Waterlooville near Portsmouth, Hampshire.
In a “total disregard of any moral compass”, Harris developed an “obsession for sex with young boys” and wanted “attention” after a break-up, a court heard.
Despite begging the boys to keep it a secret, she was arrested after a video filmed by one of the boys was circulated around their school which her son also attended.
Harris wept in the dock on Thursday as she was jailed for four years after admitting four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
A mother of one of the 13-year-olds told Portsmouth Crown Court that Harris “has taken away his childhood”.
Boys initially denied involvement
Matthew Lawson, the prosecutor, said both boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were 13 at the time of the incident, which took place in November 2022.
“The case came to light in January of last year,” he told Portsmouth Crown Court.
“There was a video that had been circulating around the school both boys attended.
“The police got a call from a concerned parent which showed an adult female engaging in sexual activity with a boy.”
The court heard the two boys initially denied involvement, before one of them eventually told their mother.
Mr Lawson said Harris was identified as the woman in the video by her hand tattoos.
Her mobile phone was seized by police and a “thread of messages” between her and one of the boys.
It was heard she told him he “shouldn’t tell anyone” as she could go to prison and to “stick up for him” if anything was said about her.
Telling the court how the boy came forward to tell his mother he had been the one who took the video, Mr Lawson said: “He said in November 2022, around the time of the World Cup, the defendant had started to message him on Snapchat and by text.
“He said the messages became sexual and invited both boys to go to her house.
“It was clear to both boys they were going there for sex.”
‘Taken away my son’s childhood’
The court heard when they arrived at the address, Harris took them to her son’s bedroom, where they had sex for around 40 minutes and left before her son was due to return from school.
She was arrested and initially claimed “no knowledge” of who the woman was in the video.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the mother of the boy who came forward said she had seen her son “fade away” as a result of the “awful nightmare”.
She added her “poor boy” has lost interest in several hobbies and now stays indoors as a result.
“My heart just breaks, I couldn’t have imagined this happening to my son – he is a child,” she said.
“Natalie has completely turned our family upside down.
“The worst thing about all of this is she has taken away his childhood and I will never forgive her.
”[He] will never get back the childhood that has been taken from him.
“This will stay with us now for the rest of our lives.”
Harris suffering from ‘manic episode’
Harris, who has since been diagnosed with bipolar and multiple personality disorder, was suffering from a “manic episode” following her split, it was heard.
In mitigation, Berenice Mulvanny said Harris was “deeply remorseful” and “devastated” about her behaviour. She said it had been “triggered” by a break-up with a partner.
On Harris’s split with her partner, Judge Sarah Munro KC said: “You reacted to his departure in a dramatic way.
“In your behaviour you became extremely promiscuous.”
She said a “dramatic change” was noted in Harris’s mood, which included “an obsession in you for sex with young boys”.
Sentencing her, she continued: “No sentence I can pass can give [him] his childhood back or undo the damage you have done to him.”
The judge said the trigger for the “episode” was her split with her partner.
“You felt unloved and you began to act in a way to get attention,” she added.
“In your desire for attention you gave no consideration on the long-term detrimental impact on these young boys.
“There was significant planning and grooming behaviour used by you, a serious abuse of trust and a very significant disparity in age.”
She added there had been a “total disregard of any moral compass” and jailed her for four years.
Harris was also made the subject of a 10-year restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order of the same length.
Source: Telegraph
About Author
