A DISTRESSED mother claims a 21-year-old woman who seduced her 13-year-old son is in need of medical treatment. She believes shamed Stephanie Fletcher should not have gone to jail, but should have given "some sort of medical help" after pleading guilty to two indecent assaults.

Fletcher, of Tintern Avenue, Tonge Moor, narrowly escaped a jail sentence and was given 12 months probation by a judge at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

The BEN revealed last night that although she walked free from court she will have to sign the sex offenders' register for five years, and tell the police of any change of address within 14 days.

The boy's mother -- who cannot be named for fear of identifying her son -- said that, although she would not have demanded a jail term, she believes Fletcher was suffering from a mental condition and requires treatment.

"I didn't particularly want her to go to prison," she said. "But I thought she should have at least got some medical help.

"To get involved with a child proves there is something mentally wrong with her. If she's done something like this to my son, and got away with it, she could do it again.

"What she has done is not normal. She needs help."

She added: "She is a mother, just like I am. As a mother I just cannot understand how she could do this."

The mother said her son has always been "a bit of a loner", preferring to spend time at home listening to music, or going out with his grandfather, rather than socialising with friends of his own age.

So when he started to spend more and more time with Fletcher his mother did not worry or suspect there was anything unusual in it.

She thought it was a perfectly innocent relationship and had no reason to suspect what was really going on.

She said: "I've always wrapped my son up in cotton wool. I never let him hang around on street corners like other children do. He only spent time with me, or his grandfather.

"I had always kept him so close to home and yet it was near to home that it happened.

"Now I wonder how I could have been so stupid, how I didn't know what was going on.

"But even when I think back, and I remember her face as she asked me if my son could go to her house, I realise now that I couldn't have guessed what was happening. You would never think a friend, a mother, could do something so awful."

The mother, who has two younger children, said she always taught her son, now aged 14, to tell the truth.

"I've always taught my children that if they are honest I won't be cross with them. The main thing is that they tell me the truth."

She prided herself on bringing him up to be an honest and well-mannered boy. It was because of the trust they shared that he was able to reveal to his mother exactly what had happened with Fletcher, after she discovered the two of them in a state of undress, in Fletcher's home.

His mother believes her son has changed because of his involvement with Fletcher.

"He is not my baby any more. She has taken that away from me. When I look at him now I don't see my little boy any more, but of course I still love him.

"He thinks he is really grown up and he is far more cheeky than he used to be.

"He used to ask me if he could do something and now he tells me. What has happened has changed him."

The family have been forced to move away from the area.

The boy, who although fairly tall for his age, was, said his mother, still a child at heart and not mature enough to deal with what has happened to him.

"His childhood has been taken away from him. He is so embarrassed and ashamed about what has happened to him that he hasn't spoken to his friends about it.

"His grandmother asked him if he had told anybody about it and he said: 'Have I heck!' He just wants to keep it a secret."

Although he is not receiving counselling, his mother has not ruled it out in the future. "It's something we might have to consider," she said.

For the time being the family is trying to come to terms with what has happened.

Both his mother, and step-father, with whom he lives, are on anti-depressant tablets and struggling to cope. A DISTRESSED mother claims a 21-year-old woman who seduced her 13-year-old son is in need of medical treatment.

She believes shamed Stephanie Fletcher should not have gone to jail, but should have given "some sort of medical help" after pleading guilty to two indecent assaults.

Fletcher, of Tintern Avenue, Tonge Moor, narrowly escaped a jail sentence and was given 12 months probation by a judge at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

The BEN revealed last night that although she walked free from court she will have to sign the sex offenders' register for five years, and tell the police of any change of address within 14 days.

Prison

The boy's mother -- who cannot be named for fear of identifying her son -- said that, although she would not have demanded a jail term, she believes Fletcher was suffering from a mental condition and requires treatment.

"I didn't particularly want her to go to prison," she said. "But I thought she should have at least got some medical help.

"To get involved with a child proves there is something mentally wrong with her. If she's done something like this to my son, and got away with it, she could do it again.

"What she has done is not normal. She needs help."

She added: "She is a mother, just like I am. As a mother I just cannot understand how she could do this."

The mother said her son has always been "a bit of a loner", preferring to spend time at home listening to music, or going out with his grandfather, rather than socialising with friends of his own age. So when he started to spend more and more time with Fletcher his mother did not worry or suspect there was anything unusual in it.

She thought it was a perfectly innocent relationship and had no reason to suspect what was really going on.

She said: "I've always wrapped my son up in cotton wool. I never let him hang around on street corners like other children do. He only spent time with me, or his grandfather.

"I had always kept him so close to home and yet it was near to home that it happened.

"Now I wonder how I could have been so stupid, how I didn't know what was going on.

"But even when I think back, and I remember her face as she asked me if my son could go to her house, I realise now that I couldn't have guessed what was happening. You would never think a friend, a mother, could do something so awful."

The mother, who has two younger children, said she always taught her son, now aged 14, to tell the truth.

"I've always taught my children that if they are honest I won't be cross with them. The main thing is that they tell me the truth."

She prided herself on bringing him up to be an honest and well-mannered boy. It was because of the trust they shared that he was able to reveal to his mother exactly what had happened with Fletcher, after she discovered the two of them in a state of undress, in Fletcher's home.

His mother believes her son has changed because of his involvement with Fletcher.

"He is not my baby any more. She has taken that away from me. When I look at him now I don't see my little boy any more, but of course I still love him.

"He thinks he is really grown up and he is far more cheeky than he used to be.

Changed

"He used to ask me if he could do something and now he tells me. What has happened has changed him."

The family have been forced to move away from the area.

The boy, who although fairly tall for his age, was, said his mother, still a child at heart and not mature enough to deal with what has happened to him.

"His childhood has been taken away from him. He is so embarrassed and ashamed about what has happened to him that he hasn't spoken to his friends about it.

"His grandmother asked him if he had told anybody about it and he said: 'Have I heck!' He just wants to keep it a secret."

Although he is not receiving counselling, his mother has not ruled it out in the future. "It's something we might have to consider," she said.

For the time being the family is trying to come to terms with what has happened.

Both his mother, and step-father, with whom he lives, are on anti-depressant tablets and struggling to cope.