A mum who thought she was sending naked pictures of herself to a 14-year-old boy has been jailed.
Ellen Horne, 46, believed she was emailing a young boy called “Sam” but was actually sending sexually explicit pictures to an older man.
Divorced mum-of-three Horne told police it gave her a “thrill” to be sending pictures of her performing sex acts to the teenager.
But she said she was left “humiliated” when she was arrested and found out the messages were going to someone else.
Last month, Cardiff Crown Court heard Horne had become “intoxicated with attention” after meeting men on dating websites for sex and began a stream of email communication with one called Stuart Bailey.
Prosecutor Jim Davis said: “Bailey introduced her to someone who was a 14-year-old boy called Sam Davies.
“Bailey said Sam liked older women and provided her with an email address.
“She admitted to officers that she had sent explicit picture messages to Sam believing him to be 14-years-old.
“That was actually an account that Bailey was using himself.
“The emails between her and ‘Sam’ show a record of sexual conversation between them.”
Cardiff Crown Court heard Horne sent pictures of herself performing sex acts – and also agreed to a “threesome” with the boy and Bailey.
Mr Davis added: “She admitted she believed she was talking to a 14-year-old boy, but said she didn’t think she would have gone through with the meeting or the threesome.
“She told the officer: ‘I got a thrill from the attention I was getting because they were getting a thrill from me.’”
Horne admitted attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.
John Ryan, mitigating, said Horne was “utterly humiliated” by her actions.
“She started going on dating websites and then she started meeting men for sex including Stuart Bailey.
“She found that attention she was getting was intoxicating.”
Judge Eleri Rees QC, said: “This is a cautionary tale for those who engage in dating websites. You take a risk because you don’t know fully who you are engaging with.
“But it was you who decided to engage in this action with a 14-year-old and you who decided to send explicit photos of yourself performing oral sex.
“What a corrupting influence a woman in your position at age 46 could have had on a 14-year-old boy.
“As it turned out that you had been duped.”
Horne, of Bradford Street, Caerphilly town, was jailed for 12 months.