A paedophile mother-of-six who had a threesome with two 13-year-olds developed an ‘obsession for sex with young boys’ but blamed it on a ‘manic episode triggered by a breakup’.
Natalie Harris, 36, has been jailed for four years after footage of the 40-minute threesome which took place in her son’s room was sent around the children’s school.
But she claimed her actions were due to her recent diagnoses of bipolar and multiple personality disorder which were made worse following a breakup from her partner.
The Judge Sarah Munro KC said following the breakup Harris had a ‘dramatic change’ in mood and became ‘extremely promiscuous’ which included an ‘obsession in you for sex with young boys’.
She said Harris felt ‘unloved’ and told the court ‘in your desire for attention, you gave no consideration on the long-term detrimental impact on these young boys’.
Harris, from Waterlooville, Hampshire, wept in the dock on Thursday as she was jailed, having admitted four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
Harris began sending sexual messages to one of the schoolboys on Snapchat before inviting them both to her address.
A mother of one of the 13-year-old boys told Portsmouth Crown Court that Harris ‘has taken away his childhood’.
Prosecutor Matthew Lawson said both boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were 13 at the time of the incident which took place in Waterlooville, near Portsmouth, in November 2022.
Mr Lawson told Portsmouth Crown Court: ‘The case came to light in January of last year.
‘There was a video that had been circulating around the school both boys attended.
‘The police got a call from a concerned parent which showed an adult female engaging in sexual activity with a boy.’
The court heard the two boys initially denied involvement before one of them eventually told their mother.
Mr Lawson said Harris was identified as the woman in the video via her distinctive hand tattoos.
Her mobile phone was seized by police and a ‘thread of messages’ between her and one of the boys was found – who she had saved in her contacts as Rachel.
It was heard she told him he ‘shouldn’t tell anyone’ as she could go to prison.
Telling the court how the boy came forward to tell his mum he had been the one who took the video, Mr Lawson said: ‘He said in November 2022, around the time of the World Cup, the defendant had started to message him on Snapchat and by text.
‘He said the messages became sexual and invited both boys to go to her house.
‘It was clear to both boys they were going there for sex.’
The court heard that when they arrived at the address, Harris took them to her son’s bedroom, where they had sex for roughly 40 minutes and left before her own boy was due to return from school.
She was arrested and initially claimed ‘no knowledge’ of who the woman was in the video.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the mother of the boy who came forward said she had seen her son ‘fade away’ as a result of the ‘awful nightmare’.
She added her ‘poor boy’ has lost interest in several hobbies and now stays indoors as a result.
‘My heart just breaks, I couldn’t have imagined this happening to my son – he is a child,’ she said.
‘Natalie has completely turned our family upside down.
‘The worst thing about all of this is she has taken away his childhood and I will never forgive her.
‘He will never get back the childhood that has been taken from him. This will stay with us now for the rest of our lives.’
Harris – who has since been diagnosed with bipolar and multiple personality disorder – was suffering from a ‘manic episode’, it was heard.
In mitigation, criminal barrister Berenice Mulvanny said Harris was ‘deeply remorseful’ and ‘devastated’ about her behaviour.
She said it had been ‘triggered’ by a break-up with a partner.
On Harris’ split with her partner, Judge Sarah Munro KC said: ‘You reacted to his departure in a dramatic way.
‘In your behaviour you became extremely promiscuous.’
She said a ‘dramatic change’ was noted in Harris’s mood which included ‘an obsession in you for sex with young boys’.
‘The boy described how you started to send him messages and invited him to your home,’ she said. ‘You took them to your son’s bedroom and engaged in sexual activity with both boys.
‘They left because it was time for your son to come home from school.’
On the boy who reported the incident, she said: ‘The impact upon him has been dreadful. He feels guilty about what happened. You have clearly turned that family upside down and taken his childhood away from him.’
Sentencing her, she continued: ‘No sentence I can pass can give him his childhood back or undo the damage you have done to him.’
The judge said the trigger for the ‘manic episode’ which resulted in ‘erratic behaviour’ was her split with her partner.
‘You felt unloved and you began to act in a way to get attention,’ she added. ‘In your desire for attention, you gave no consideration on the long-term detrimental impact on these young boys.
‘There was significant planning and grooming behaviour used by you, a serious abuse of trust and a very significant disparity in age.’
She added there had been a ‘total disregard of any moral compass’ and jailed her for four years.
Harris was also made the subject of a ten-year restraining order and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order of the same length.