October 2014
Woman who sexually abused 14-year-old boy jailed for two years after appeal judge rules original suspended sentence was too lenient
A mother-of-two who escaped with a suspended sentence after seducing a 14-year-old schoolboy has now been sent to prison.
Divorced Karen Ackland, from Deal, bedded the boy – who was 30 years her junior – after a drink-fuelled night out.
But the former sailor, of Cavell Square, has now been jailed for two years after three senior judges at London’s Appeal Court upheld a bid by the Attorney General to have her “too soft” sentence increased.
The 44-year-old admitted three counts of sexual activity with a child at Canterbury Crown Court in July, but avoided jail.
Today, Lord Justice Pitchford said there were “no grounds” for suspending her sentence and branded her original punishment “plainly unduly lenient”.
He said Ackland had “pursued” the teenager after drinking with him and others.
The pair had both drunk heavily before she kissed him and offered to perform a sex act on him
Later that night, as the boy prepared for his paper round the next day, Ackland stripped off and indulged in sex games with the boy in a bedroom.
But Ackland’s illicit tryst was rumbled after the boy’s older brother heard moaning noises coming from a bedroom.
During the noisy sex session, Ackland was heard saying: “I can’t believe I’m doing this with a 15-year-old” – getting the boy’s age wrong.
Ackland was later arrested after a child protection officer at the boy’s school became aware of the offences, but she initially denied any wrongdoing.
However, Ackland changed her pleas to guilty minutes before her scheduled trial, abandoning claims that nothing happened between the pair.
Judge Simon James handed her a nine-month suspended sentence with an order to pay the court costs and placed her on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Lawyers for the Attorney General, today argued that the sentence was far too lenient after the judge underrated the seriousness of Ackland’s crimes.
The Attorney General’s barrister said the judge characterised the offence as a “drunken escapade” when it was in fact a “persistent course of conduct”.
Ackland’s barrister, Dominic Webber, said the punishment was entirely correct, arguing that the victim had encouraged her advances.
He said: “The offender has been named and shamed in the red-top press but she was somebody of exemplary character.”
The barrister also said the judge had given an indication behind closed doors that, if Ackland pleaded guilty, he might be convinced a custodial term was not necessary.
Lord Justice Pitchford said today: “There should have been no indication that a plea of guilty might be the difference between a custodial sentence and a non-custodial sentence.”
He accepted that the offence was “out of character” but also underlined the aggravating factors in the case.
Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting with Mr Justice Dingermans and Mr Justice William Davis, said: “This sentence was plainly unduly lenient.
“We shall quash the suspended sentence order and substitute what we regard as the least possible sentence – namely concurrent terms of two years’ imprisonment.
“There are no grounds for suspending the sentences, and they will be served immediately.”
The appeal judge ordered Ackland to hand herself into Folkestone Police Station by 4pm today to start her sentence.
July 2014
Deal mother seduced boy of 14 for drunken sex but spared jail at Canterbury Crown Court
A Deal mother-of-two seduced a 14-year-old schoolboy 30 years her junior after a drunken night out.
Divorced Karen Ackland’s illicit tryst was rumbled after the boy’s older brother heard moaning noises coming from a bedroom.
The 44-year-old former sailor was heard demanding her teenage lover spit into her mouth during their noisy sex session.
Then – while she was having sex – she was heard to say: “I can’t believe I’m doing this with a 15-year-old!”
But Canterbury Crown Court heard the victim was only 14 at the time of the romp last year.
Ackland, of Cavell Square, managed to avoid an immediate jail sentence after she admitted three charges of sexual activity with a child.
Speaking after the sentence, the victim’s mother said: “I think women should have as long sentences as men. It’s exactly the same sexual act.
“It shouldn’t be any different for men and women and if she had been a man I think she would have had a jail sentence.”
Ackland changed her pleas to guilty just minutes before a trial was due to start when the schoolboy was expected to have been called to give evidence.
Her barrister Dominic Webber asked the judge what the maximum sentence was likely to be if she entered guilty pleas.
After a few minutes, Ackland returned from a cigarette break and admitted the offences. She was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for a year.
Prosecutor Andrew Espley told the hearing: “She was drunk at the time and used the teenager a sexual object.”
He said the pair had met at a social event before a group of friends had returned to Ackland’s house when “everyone did three shots of vodka”.
“They were standing near a fridge and the teenager was backed into a little corner cabinet and then they kissed,” said Mr Ackland.
The group later went to another house and, when Ackland and the boy were alone, she offered to perform a sex act on him, the court heard.
Mr Espley said they were then disturbed by others arriving and Ackland tried to get the boy to walk her home again on the pretext she had lost her phone.
The prosecutor said she stayed at the house, stripped off and indulged in sex games – before oral sex and intercourse.
Mr Espley added: “During this she was moaning and at one point asked him to spit into her mouth.
“What she did caused them to be discovered.”
The victim would later tell a friend: “I went to get into my trackies and she stripped naked in front of me. Yeah we had sex, but it was really weird.
“She kept asking me to spit on her and all these weird things.”
The prosecutor said within days, the incident was the talk of the school and was then reported to the authorities.
Ackland told a friend: “He tried to kiss me. I’m a 40-year-old woman – what am I supposed to do?”
Mr Webber said the Tesco shelf-stacker had grown up in Germany and was the daughter of a father who was in the military.
She married in 1993, but was now divorced with two teenage children.
He said: “She accepts that this was extremely irresponsible behaviour and she admits to being a binge drinker.”
Judge Simon James said he accepted Ackland had “almost immediately regretted” her behaviour and, although it had been committed in drink, “that does not afford you any real excuses”.
He added the law was there to protect teenagers from doing things they might later regret.
She was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and pay £500 court costs.
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