A 35-year-old Norwich Paedophile, Jodie Delray, wept as she was sentenced to imprisonment for sexually grooming a child. Jodie Delray was sentenced to five and a half years in prison yesterday and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Jodie Delray was found guilty of sexual assault and engaging in sexual activity with a minor after a nine-day trial at Norwich Crown Court.
The court heard that the youngster was only 12 years old when he was sexually abused.
Jodie Delray, clad in a grey hoodie in the dock, wept as her punishment was pronounced.
Jodie Delray refuted all the allegations.
William Carter, the prosecutor, stated that Jodie Delray’s conduct exhibited a ‘element of grooming,’ and an exacerbating factor was her far greater age.
Michael Clare, who did not represent Jodie Delray during her trial but defended her yesterday, stated that she posed a ‘very low danger of re-offending.’
Mr. Clare expressed his concern on the impression she conveyed to the court during her trial, as she had been counselled to suppress her e
He said: ‘She feels she has been let down in the way she presented herself.’
Mr Clare said she was a ‘vulnerable individual’ with a number of health problems and suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome.
‘Custody for her will be all the more punishment for her. She is someone who will find it extremely difficult’, she added.
Judge Anthony Bate told Delray he accepted she was a woman of previous good character.
The judge said he had received testimonials from her friends and family, who spoke of her many qualities.
But Judge Bate warned Jodie Delray: ‘I can do nothing in this case other than my public duty.’
He said she had started by sexually assaulting the boy and that was a ‘precursor’ to them going on to having full sex.
‘Full sex began to occur initiated by you,’ said Judge Bate. ‘These clandestine sex trysts continued for some time.’
He said the Appeal Court had stressed about how a teenage boy is often ‘ill-equipped’ to cope with a premature sexual experience.
Judge Bate also made Jodie Delray subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
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