Filey woman jailed over nine years for 'heinous' sexual offences

Tracy Bancroft, now 64, had sex with the boy when after “grooming” him and plying him with alcohol and cigarettes, York Crown Court heard.

“(The victim) said he had no sexual knowledge and didn’t understand what was happening as he was so young,” added Mr Morley.

The boy felt “dizzy and drunk” afterwards because he wasn’t used to drinking alcohol, said Mr Morley.

He told no-one about the incident at the time.

Matters were finally reported to police in March 2023 when he told police he had been abused.

Bancroft, of Sycamore Avenue, was arrested in March 2024 and quizzed by police at Scarborough Police Station.

She admitted having sex with the boy but disputed his age at the time and blamed it on her drinking.

She was charged with eight separate sexual offences against the boy and initially denied all allegations when the case first reached court in January last year.

A trial was fixed for September 2025 but the day before it was due to take place, she tried to take her own life with an overdose.

A new trial was arranged for September this year but, shortly before that date, she pleaded guilty to three of the eight charges, namely three counts of sexual activity with a child.

The Crown accepted those pleas and Bancroft appeared for sentence today (October 27) in an extremely frail condition.

Two other counts were allowed to lie on the court’s file and not-guilty verdicts were recorded by the judge on the three remaining charges.

In a statement read out by the victim’s mother in court, she labelled Bancroft a “predator” who had taken advantage of her son.

She said the abuse had had a profound effect on her son who was once a “care-free, happy” child but was now “emotionally wrecked”.

“Not for a second did I think my son would be exposed to a predator,” she added.

“That woman has destroyed my family (and) myself. I feel like my heart’s been ripped out.”

Defence solicitor Derek Foley said that Bancroft had made partial admissions in her police interview and only disputed the boy’s age at the time.

He added: “There is little that can be said and certainly nothing that can excuse or even explain (Bancroft’s actions).”

He described her offences as “heinous and upsetting for the (victim) and his family.”

Mr Foley said that at the time of the offences, Bancroft was “alcohol dependent and drinking heavily, and it was in that context that she took advantage of a young child”.

He said that Bancroft felt a “deep shame” for what she had done.

He said that Bancroft had suffered a stroke following the overdose which had affected her mobility to the extent that she now used a Zimmer frame and relied on family members for help with day-to-day activities.

Mr Foley added: “She has become a recluse. She does recognise the enormity of her offending.”

Judge Simon Hickey told Bancroft: “Clearly, you now recognise that what you have done has caused immeasurable harm. There’s certainly an element of grooming here.”

Bancroft was jailed for nine years and four months and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life.

She was also made subject to a 15-year sexual-harm-prevention order which bans her having any unsupervised contact with males under the age of 18.