A 60-year-old Suffolk woman has been sentenced to three years in prison for having sex with a schoolboy nearly four decades ago. 

Gillian Mitchell, of Butt Road, Great Cornard, denied five offences of indecent assault and two of gross indecency with a boy. 

In October, the jury found her guilty of one offence of indecent assault but cleared her of the remaining six charges following a week-long trial. 

The boy was aged 12 to 14 years old at the time of the offences, which are said to have taken place in the 1980s.

Ipswich Crown Court had previously heard that it had been alleged that Mitchell, who was then in her early 20s at the time, touched the boy’s bottom at a wedding reception when he was 12 and later had sex with him.

This incident happened in the 1980s. 

The man, who is now in his 50s, had told the court during the trial he was “100% telling the truth" about what Mitchell had done to him several decades earlier.

Marc Brown, prosecuting, claimed that after one night Mitchell had made up reasons for the boy to visit her house so that they could have sex.

As an adult, the alleged victim told the jury he suffered from mental health problems and substance and alcohol misuse and blamed his experiences as a child, said Mr Brown.

Mitchell had allegedly made a comment about being a “naughty older woman”, the court heard.

Mitchell was interviewed by the police in 2020 and denied having any sexual contact with the alleged victim when questioned by officers.

Giving evidence, Mitchell accused the alleged victim of telling “a pack of lies”. 

After her conviction, Mitchell was warned by Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley that she faced the prospect of jail time.

On Friday, December 1, Mitchell was sentenced to three years imprisonment.