alcohol walked free from court yesterday.
Amanda Wheeler, a mother-of-three, downed vodka, beer and wine at a
friend's birthday party before kissing and groping a 12-year-old boy
on a bench.
She then performed a lap-dance and straddled a group of teenage boys.
The part-time cleaner also bit a 13-year-old boy on his neck and
persuaded him to perform a sex act on her.
The accused woman denied four counts of sexual activity with a child
and one of sexual assault but was found guilty following a two-week
trial in October at Worcester Crown Court.
Delivering the verdict, Judge Patrick Thomas QC said he did not
believe the incident on November 29, 2011, 'arose out of paedophilia'
but wasa 'one-off'.
He told the court: 'It is a highly unusual and very difficult case.
'I'm satisfied that this behaviour arose not out of paedophilia,
although these were paedophile acts, but out of drunkenness,
selfishness and a real element of childishness on your part. You were
grossly disinhibited but I don't think that in you there is a tendency
or proclivity towards this sort of behaviour and because of this I can
regard it as a one-off.'
Wheeler, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was given a two-year prison
sentence suspended for two years at Birmingham Crown Court.
Judge Thomas said the three boys had made a full recovery 'from what
could have been extraordinarily traumatic experiences'.
However, he told Wheeler she 'should be ashamed' of herself for
pleading not guilty as he said the quantity of alcohol she had drunk
meant she could not dispute the testimony of the boys.
Wheeler was acquitted of a sixth charge of sexual activity with a child.
She was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for ten years.
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