A nan and her partner plotted for months in an attempt to get a teenager to have sex with both of them.
Amanda Bywater, 48, and Phillip Park, 37 both encouraged each other to have sex with the same girl in a series of messages sent between the pair on Whatsapp. Bywater and Park were both jailed today after a judge at Liverpool Crown Court told them he was sure they had the intention of having sex with the child.
Jonathan Rogers, prosecuting, said Bywater, from Widnes, and Park, from Leigh, met on a swingers' website and soon began messaging each other frequently throughout 2019.
READ MORE: Son stabbed mum because he 'wanted her to be with Jesus'
He said they soon began discussing having sex with a particular teenager. In messages read out in court, the pair discussed how they wanted to have sex with the child in graphic detail. They would sometimes phrase the messages as a joke but later return to the topic again and again.
Eventually, the pair even discussed plans to have sex with the teen and whether they could ply her with alcohol to encourage her to agree. Their sick messages were later discovered before any sexual activity took place and they were reported to the police.
The pair were due to stand trial at the same court earlier this year but changed their pleas to guilty on the day the trial began. Philip Clemo, defending Bywater, and Steven Swift, defending Park, said the pair, who are no longer together, deeply regretted their actions and accepted responsibility for what they had done.
Mr Clemo said Bywater’s late admission of guilt was an indication that she had struggled to come to terms with what she had done. He said: “In her case there is a great deal of shame and self loathing that she is experiencing at the moment.”
Judge Stuart Driver QC told the pair he was confident there was intent to carry out sexual activity with the child. He said: “This was not mere talk. By pleading guilty you have accepted that you intended that sexual offences would take place.”
Park, of Holden Road, Leigh, and Bywater, of Brooklands Park, Widnes , were jailed for four and a half years. Bywater wept as she was led to the cells while Park was emotionless.
READ NEXT:
Mum swung broom at neighbour and hurled homophobic insult at son
Pub landlord, wife and son threw drinker out then battered him
BMW inferno sends home up in flames
Woman shot in stomach accused of threatening officers with knife
Schoolboy charged as man fights for life after street attack
