Couple jailed for indecent assaults on 14-year-old boy in Sedbergh (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Couple jailed for indecent assaults on 14-year-old boy in Sedbergh

4:30pm Thursday 21st February 2013 in News

A MAN who used his then wife as 'bait' to lure a 14-year-old boy to their Sedbergh home where they sexually 'debauched' him has been sent to prison for four years - and his ex wife, who divorced him some time ago, has been jailed for 18 months for going along with it and allowing the boy to perform sex acts on her.

Both Craig Foster, 47, and his 37-year-old ex wife Anne-Marie were also banned from ever working with children and ordered to sign the sex offenders register – he for life, and she for ten years.

And Craig Foster, who in his 20s was convicted of having unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl, was also banned indefinitely from having any contact with anyone under 16.

Passing sentence at Carlisle Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Paul Batty QC described the case as 'truly depressing and disgusting'.

He said that, though there was no proof, he had no doubt that the couple had filmed their abuse of the boy so they could watch it for their sexual gratification later.

Foster, who now lives in Kirkland, Kendal, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court to six charges of indecent assault in January, on the day he was due to go on trial.

His ex wife, of Mary Fell, Sedbergh, maintained her not guilty pleas to three similar charges but was found guilty by a 10-2 majority verdict after a trial.

The court heard during the trial that Craig Foster – then 32 and known as Barry Harding - targeted the boy knowing he was vulnerable and unhappy.

He began by showing him pornographic videos of his then 21-year-old wife performing sex acts on herself, then used her as 'bait' to entice him into their home on three nights in succession in the late 1990s, prosecuting counsel Hugh Barton said.