'Sexual predator' - Woman jailed for nine years for having sex with boy
A female “sexual predator” who repeatedly sexually abused a teenage boy has been jailed for nine years.
Tracy Bancroft, now 64, had sex with the boy when she was in her late 40s or early 50s, after “grooming” him and plying him with alcohol and cigarettes, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Michael Morley said Bancroft, from Filey, gave the victim “two drinks of strong rum” and cigarettes before sitting astride him and kissing him.
The child “froze” as Bancroft performed a lewd act on him and then had unprotected sex with him.
“(The victim) said he had no sexual knowledge and didn’t understand what was happening as he was so young,” added Mr Morley.
“He was stunned. He said he had frozen and remained shocked for a few days.”
The boy, who lived in the Scarborough area, felt “dizzy and drunk” afterwards because he was not used to drinking alcohol, said Mr Morley. He told no-one about the incident at the time.
In a second incident, Bancroft kissed the boy before having unprotected sex with him again. The victim could smell alcohol on her breath.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said they had sex on “at least” 20 other occasions.
In 2022, by now a young adult, he told people close to him about the abuse. In March 2023 he told police he had been abused. He named his abuser about a year later.
Bancroft, of Sycamore Avenue, was arrested in March 2024 and interviewed by police at Scarborough Police Station.
She admitted having sex with the boy but disputed his age at the time and blamed it on her drinking.
She was charged with eight separate sexual offences.
She later pleaded guilty to three of the eight charges, namely three counts of sexual activity with a child. The Crown accepted those pleas.
Two other counts were allowed to lie on the court’s file and not-guilty verdicts were recorded by the judge on the three remaining charges.
Defence solicitor Derek Foley said that Bancroft had made partial admissions in her police interview and only disputed the boy’s age at the time.
Bancroft was jailed for nine years and four months and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
She was also made subject to a 15-year sexual harm prevention order which bans her having any unsupervised contact with males under 18.