A married teaching assistant who arranged to meet a pupil in a hotel bedroom for sex has been jailed.

Lydia Beattie-Milligan, from Lydiate, has been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register and to comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years after a judge slammed the 'gross breach of trust'.

The 43-year-old groomed the pupil, before telling a friend she was buying sexy underwear for a lap dance ahead of a "major f***ing", The Liverpool Echo reports.

Concerns were first raised about the mum-of-two when she began 'acting too familiar' with the victim, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

A member of staff then joked with the boy, saying he was her favourite, after she gave him bonus points in class.

The victim responded by showing the staff member messages on his phone, in which the pair arranged a hotel rendezvous.

A colleague believed Beattie-Milligan - described by a friend as "Mrs Robinson" from the film The Graduate - was meeting an agency teacher at the hotel, with whom she had been in a relationship and would exchange flirty messages.

Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting, previously told the court: "She recalls that Lydia had been excited about the meeting and that she had bought new underwear… the Crown say she was clearly anticipating a sexual encounter."

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Ms Mottram said Beattie-Milligan was suspended and police were informed, but she made no comment in interview.

Text messages were read to the court between the defendant and the victim, in which she said she 'cared' about him.

When the boy asked if she loved him, she replied: "OMG I cannot stop thinking about you but I know it is wrong. You do batter my head, so maybe."

Beattie-Milligan was sentenced on Monday, after a jury took just over an hour to unanimously find Beattie-Milligan guilty of arranging to meet a child following sexual grooming.

The mum had denied the charge, claiming: "I have 100% no interest in children in a sexual way."

During the trial, the defendant, who was supported by her husband in the public gallery, told the court she had the boy's number 'to support him'.

She said she arranged the hotel stay to tell the victim that what he believed was a relationship 'cannot go on'.

During the sentence hearing, the victim's mum said her son has since threatened to take his own life.

She said he was angry and emotional, no longer trusted professionals and wouldn't talk to his family about what happened.

His mum said he had 'gone off the rails' and wasn't eating or sleeping.

Another family member had required counselling, she said.

Jason Smith, defending, said: “She finds herself this morning before the courts with her life absolutely in ruins, her marriage perhaps unsurprisingly has collapsed and that will lead in due course to her living with her mother.

“Her employment prospects are bleak in the extreme because she has always with diligence and with professionalism worked in this field and worked impeccably and it’s a very unusual, curious feature of this case that this woman, with such a background, with such dedication, goes off the rails to this extent and behaves in a manner which is, as she will have to accept in due course, abhorrent in many ways.

"For a period of less than two weeks she has thrown her whole life, her marriage, house, employment, all into chaos."

Mr Smith said she didn't send any sexually explicit texts or pictures to the boy and any "sexual context" came from saying what she would do in messages to friends.

He said she had mental health problems and urged the judge to spare the mum prison, because of the impact that jailing her would have on her son and daughter.

Beattie-Milligan, of Kingsley Close, Lydiate, was sentenced to two years behind bars.

Judge Gary Woodhall said he was 'perfectly satisfied' that Beattie-Milligan intended to have penetrative sex with the child.

He said: "It's clear to me you were sexually attracted to this boy, you were infatuated with him and you were encouraging similar feelings within him.

"You referred to trimming your body hair, you said you were going to make sure you were looking amazing, that you were going to do a lap dance for him and get some sexy underwear and in your words - not mine - in one text saying "major f***ing going on".

Judge Woodhall said reports showed she had crossed boundaries with children before, though not sexually, seemingly out of a need to feel valued.

He described her actions as a 'gross breach of trust'.

He added: "As a result of what you did in this incident, your life has collapsed around you.

"Your employment prospects are seriously reduced, your marriage is finished, you have difficulty in contact with your children and in all likelihood you will lose your home."

Beattie-Milligan then turned to her mum in the public gallery and said: "Tell the kids I love them."

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