A 50-year-old woman, who allegedly had sexual relations with her 15-year-old son, has avoided a prison sentence after she claimed that the teenager seduced her. The woman, who has not been identified, was told by a judge that she had "clearly breached her obligation as a mother." She was, however, handed a suspended sentence by the judge.

The Gloucester Crown Court, in the UK, on Tuesday heard how the woman went along with the demands of her teenage son out of motherly love. She also pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with the boy.

Details of her crime were also mentioned during the hearing, which included her spanking the boy with a paddle and dressing up in knickers, bra and boots as he wanted.

Prosecutor Stephen Dent said: "He would wear a t-shirt, nothing else. This happened more than once, but less than six times." The teenager reportedly told authorities that he derived "pleasure from those activities," the Mirror reported.

The woman's attorney, Simon Burch, said that her son had "instigated" the sexual offending. "She had no enthusiasm for the conduct and was ashamed and contrite," he said. "She is vulnerable for a number of reasons. She is easily manipulated. In her previous abusive, relationship, she was subject to physical violence and made to engage in sexual acts she did not want to."

Burch also said that the mother received "plaguing persevering messages' from the teenager: "Not once had any of the ideas come from her. Not once did she encourage him."

He added that the accused woman did not have "one iota of enthusiasm" to pursue sexual relations with her son, and there was just "reluctant acquiescence" on her part.

"This was a mother struggling to bring up her son in an appropriate way and control him. She should not be regarded as predatory," Burch said. 

Judge Ian Lawrie QC, who imposed a 16-month jail term suspended for two years, told the woman: "You've pleaded guilty to three offenses of sexual activity with a child family member, that is your son. You spanked the naked buttocks of your son with a paddle. Whatever the prompt or dynamic, it is ultimately that you had a responsibility to your son."

"He was vulnerable. At the age of 16, he was difficult. Threatening in his behavior. There was persistence by him, and on one view pressure from him, to indulge in those sexual acts. That does not excuse, and can never excuse, that you failed as a mother to observe as a mother the appropriate boundaries. There is a greater need for you to exercise discipline and restraint. Not to acquiesce," the judge told the woman. "You have breached the obligation of a mother. Not just on one occasion, but a variety of occasions. But there is no prior sexual deviancy and a significant level of remorse."