A 'depraved' mother who helped a paedophile rape her own daughter and then went shopping while he did it has been locked up. Finally the courts and society are waking up to the fact that women are as capable of raping and facilitating the rape of children as are their male counter-parts.
The sick mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lured her daughter to where sex-pest Michael Hunt was waiting - and ordered her to have sex with him.
And despite seeing that the girl was too scared to move, the mum ignored her child's desperate cries for help - and went SHOPPING, a court heard.
Even when the 14-year-old contacted police, the mother attempted to 'emotionally blackmail' her into dropping the charges.
At Grimsby Crown Court on Wednesday Judge David Tremberg blasted the pair, saying the case 'beggars belief'.
Sentencing 40-year-old Hunt to nine years' imprisonment and the woman to five-and-a-half years' behind bars, he told the girls' mother: 'You facilitated her rape by Hunt.
'It almost beggars belief any mother would be so depraved to behave this way with her own flesh and blood.
'How does a child come to terms with such a devastating betrayal of trust?
'You told her that he wanted to do something sexual to her.
She said she was not happy with that, but you told her she would be all right and left her to her fate.
'In interview, you told the police that you could see she was too scared to move.
Depraved: The mother, who cannot be named, was convicted at Grimsby Crown Court
'What is clear is that as your daughter called out to you for help, you ignored her.
'In the jury's verdict you facilitated this rape in circumstances where you foresaw the very real possibility such an offence would occur.
'By virtue of this offence and by denying it, you have caused this girl incalculable emotional harm. There is a significant risk of further offending.
'Quite clearly in this case your offending was so serious only a custodial sentence is appropriate.'
Hunt, from Scunthorpe, Lincs, was convicted of rape and the mother of aiding and abetting rape and of witness intimidation by a jury at Grimsby Crown Court.
Judge Tremberg told Hunt: 'Any offence of rape of a 14-year-old girl is never anything less than serious.
'You have many years, if not decades, when you might have the opportunity where another child might be exposed to risk by you of serious sexual harm.'
He added: 'You both departed from decent standards of behaviour. You were both drunk.'
The pair were given Sexual Offences Prevention Orders for life and have been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Father-of-two Hunt, who worked as a ground worker at factories in the town, is banned from having unsupervised contact with a child under 16 and the girl's mother is prohibited from having custody, care or control of a child.
