Hunter Man Charged With Grooming

BY OLIVIA DILLON

Detectives from the State Crime Command's Sex Crimes Squad have charged a man following an investigation into online grooming in the Hunter region. 

Officers have spent the last month connecting online with a 47-year-old man in Port Stephens, posing as a woman and her daughter, aged under ten years. 

The man reportedly engaged in highly-sexualised conversations, sent child abuse material, and arranged to meet the pair for sexual activity. 

He was arrested at a home in Tanilba Bay yesterday at about 7:30am. 

Police also seized several electronic storage devices and other items, which will undergo examination. 

He was formally refused bail, and will appear before Newcastle Local Court next Wednesday. 

Sex Groomer Avoids Gaol Time

BY IAN CROUCH

A former teacher's aide at a Hunter Valley school has been handed a 12 month suspended gaol sentence for grooming a teenage boy for sex.

Jackie Hays pleaded guilty to the charge despite claiming a weight loss drug was to blame for increasing her libido, which led her to seek out the 15-year-old.

Although acknowledging the 51-year-old has been diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, Judge Robert Stone found there was no evidence to support her claim.

Judge Stone said Ms Hays was remorseful and unlikely to re-offend and placed her on a 12-month good behaviour bond.

Jackie Hays Given A Suspended Sentence Picture: dailytelegraph.com.au

Sex Groomer Faces Sentencing

BY IAN CROUCH

A former support worker at a Hunter Valley school accused of grooming a student for sex will be sentenced next week.

Jackie Hays sent a series of explicit text messages to a then 15-year-old boy in 2015.

The 51-year-old's bid to have her case dismissed on the grounds she was suffering a borderline personality disorder was rejected in Newcastle Local Court.

She claimed a weight loss drug had increased her libido, but a magistrate has ruled the case against her is too serious to dismiss.

The mother of two faces possible gaol time.

Accused Sex Groomer Jackie Hays Faces A Gaol Sentence Picture: dailytelegraph.com.au