A 31-year-old mother-of-five who started to act like a teenager and had sex with a 15-year-old boy has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Rebecca Fletcher, of Kingsmead, Ledbury, became obsessed with the boy when her second marriage started to break down, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The boy was a virgin until they had sex in January last year, Anton Muller, prosecuting, told the court. They met on several occasions and had sex once in his bunk bed and another time when he skipped his last lesson and went to her home while her own four young children were still at school.

The affair came to light when "flirtatious and increasingly sexual" text messages she had sent to the boy were discovered, Mr Muller said. She also texted she loved him and "was missing him like crazy."

Sarah Buckingham, defending, said she had been obsessed with the boy but there was no suggestion she had forced him into anything. He had told police he was a willing partner. In fact, Miss Buckingham said, it had started when he instigated a children's game of Truth Or Dare with Fletcher and asked her if she would ever have sex with him.

"He admitted coming on to her and said he willingly had sex with her," Miss Buckingham said. "She knows she should have refused but this was not a cunning seduction."

Fletcher was an intelligent young woman who had behaved in a "juvenile, immature and teenage way," she said.

Her own childhood had been difficult and she had a child when she was 17 with her first husband, who was currently serving in the Falklands with the RAF. She had moved to Worcester with her second husband and had four more children.

Fletcher pleaded guilty to three offences of sexual activity with a child.

Judge Robert Juckes, QC, said the courts were determined to protect children from sexual offences and a custodial sentence was aimed at deterring others. He had taken into account all the circumstances, including her continuing need to be regularly involved with her young children, and decided it should not be immediate jail. He gave her a 24-month sentence suspended for two years with a supervision order and an order to take part in a specified work programme. She will also have to sign the sex offenders register for ten years and to pay £500 costs.