Freya Squires [2019] EWCA Crim 1167

The offender indicated guilty pleas at the magistrates’ court to 6 counts of sexual activity with a child under the age of 16 and sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust. She was sentenced to a total of 40 months’ imprisonment and an application was made for leave to refer the sentences as unduly lenient.

The offender met the victim at the school where she was a teaching assistant. She accepted the offending and the pre-sentence report suggested that she believed herself to be in love with the victim and had developed a distorted view that the victim was a willing, consensual participant and failed to recognise her vulnerabilities. The offending started when the victim was 14 or 15 and continued until she was 18. The victim said that it was not a horrible relationship and the offender had never abused her in the sense of forcing her to do anything and thought the offender had been struggling with depression.

Held: the starting point was too low due to the extent of the offending, reflected by multiple counts, offending committed after the offender received a warning from the school and she had warned the victim of the serious consequences if the offending were discovered. Even taking into account the offender’s remorse and good character the starting point should not have been less than 7 years. The sentence of 40 months was quashed and substituted with concurrent terms of 56 months’ imprisonment.