Primary school teacher: facing jail for sending lewd texts to schoolboy after grooming him on World

A primary school teacher faces jail for sending lewd texts to a 14-year-old boy after grooming him over the internet game World of Warcraft. Lynn Walls, 42, who has been sacked from her job, used the interactive computer game to befriend the teenager and get his mobile phone number while playing online.

(www.dailymail.co.uk... - Source)

I actually don't know which category this would fall under, but being that she was a school teacher and the child is still well in the care of parents I thought it might have been an education thing. Mods or Admins please move where you see fit, and hopefully I'll learn the next time around where to put a few of these news stories

On to the topic at hand - Do these people think before they do such actions? Also would anyone be able to explain as to why these teachers take such interest in the young children? I mean from the point conveyed in the article, it seemed as if the teacher never really met the child in person, but simply through the game and was able to gain his phone number. What compelled the child to give the phone number? Especially if he never saw a picture of her, it could have wound up to be one of those cases in which a child is abducted and goes missing for several days on end to which may end tragically. The things some people do in this world is really quite amazing..

The big question is, did she know his age?

I'd like all true paedophiles to be packed off to an island where there are no children.

But these days we have to be very careful about accepting the government's word that someone is knowingly using sexual predatory techniques on children. It's becoming a very convenient weapon to use, and it's used as a way to bring about fear and acceptance of world-wide internet censorship.

I found, some years ago, a 10 year old girl was using a computer in my house to pose as an adult male and an adult female in The Sims, using these personas to seduce adults in the game because she thought it was funny.
There was no way, looking at what she wrote, anyone was going to guess this was a child. Yet by today's laws they could have been jailed.

She got banned from the computer and I contacted everyone I could find who had been in touch with her, explaining the situation. There was a bunch of mortified and apologetic people I spoke to who would never have willingly got involved with a child.

These days it's not safe to get sexual with anyone on the internet until you have a way of verifying who and how old they are.

reply to post by Kailassa


As to the age question, I would bet that she probably did know. If she was able to garner his cellphone number and send text messages as well as pictures towards the teenager then somewhere in their they must have called one another. Also in the article, it may not say whether she did know or not, but it seems to me that for the teenager to give his phone number she must have known quite a bit about him.

That's true also, not everything on the internet can be fully trust and sadly their would be almost no way of proving one is of legal age without having to convey oneself over the internet. Pictures, wouldn't help so much as anyone can go out and find a picture of a super model or someone who has taken dozens of pictures of themselves. Web cams might work, but no one will do that for quite a few safety reasons and simply not wanting to indulge in so much just to prove their age.

Last, but not least I think trying to get sexual with anyone on the internet is a bit of a bad course in action; but their are some good stories (rare) in which two people meet and are in love with one another so it can happen I suppose.

P.S. Was the 10 year old girl your daughter or just somehow was able to get a hold of your computer? If not your daughter that's kind of scary that she was able to get that much control to play the sims.

reply to post by PoisonousPoison
It was someone with a right to use that computer, but not my daughter.
The girl concerned had been previously exposed to someone who was a very bad influence, and needed a lot of support become responsible for her own actions after that.

My kids are not into using computers for chatting, too shy.

A very good philosophy to live by for communications on the internet.. and especially MMOs (massively multiplayer Online games)...

Remember, on the internet, all men are men, all women are men, and all kids are FBI agents.

Good philosophy to go by lol... keeps one out of trouble.

reply to post by Jomina


Haha, that's a very good one that is used quite often especially within' the gaming community itself to.

reply to post by Kailassa


Oh okay I see now, I think I understand the situation a bit more now. Yeah I guess kids need to be watched more than ever after the invention of the internet.

are you a girl or guy??

It doesn't matter whether or not she knew his age. If she's on WoW what kind of people does she expect to be contacting? Everyone has a cell phone nowadays so she can't use the excuse of "he had a cell phone so I thought he was older."

This lady, school teacher or not, deserves jail time, and will never hold a teaching job again- book it.

What's everyone getting their knickers in a twist about? There's nothing wrong with this at all. If a 42-year-old woman had tried to seduce me when I was fourteen, I would have needed little persuading (unless, of course, she was mad as a hatter and as ugly as sin).

I'm sick of all this hysteria in the West about paedophelia. Nobody likes a child molester, but treating sexually active adolescents as if they were prepubertal babes is just stupid. A generation ago people knew better. Nobody wants to go back to the days of Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his thirteen-year-old first cousin, but the balance has tilted much too far in the opposite direction now.

I suppose it's the flip side of the Western obsession with youth; a repressed, unacknowledged fascination with paedophilia that manifests itself in everything from boy bands and anorexic fashion models to anti-aging creams and creaking sixty-year olds popping Viagra and assuring each other that they're in 'the prime of life'.

How ridiculous and pathetic.

[edit on 19-1-2009 by Astyanax]

Originally posted by Kailassa
The big question is, did she know his age?

Well, that is the big question. I assume the judge would have found out the answer to that, but the article doesn't state it.

He may have told her he was older, but I'm sure they would have found that out if he did. By the sounds of it, she knew how old he was.

Originally posted by Portugoal
...If she's on WoW what kind of people does she expect to be contacting?...

The guys and girls I play with on WoW are mostly in their late 20s to early 30s. A couple are in their 40s and 50s. One guy is like 60. How do I know? First, I've heard their voices, and second, the topics of discussion while on vent. Third, the attitudes while playing the game. Not to mention the number of times I've heard kids in the background going "Mom...", or "Dad...."

A great many adults play the game. In fact, our guild has over 175 members, and I can only think of 2 or 3 that are under 18 (one of which is my son). Now, if you were playing Halo3, Gears of War, or TF2, you'd have a point.

[edit on 19-1-2009 by sir_chancealot]

reply to post by Astyanax


Well this is over in England, I'm not over there so not really sure how they would view this act; but from what is stated in the article it seems they are throwing everything at this woman including the book itself. It's safe to assume (Probably) they knew each others age. From the sounds of it though it seems the mother was simply horrified and went out of her way to make sure this woman was scrutinized. Though you do have a point at 14 and a woman offers sex, I don't think anyone would need to persuade me either - well maybe a little I grew up on heavy morals and for the most part I don't care for the act.

I totally agree that treating the child as a baby probably isn't the best of routes (Heck I'm 19 almost 20 and my mother still tries to treat me like a baby, needless to say I get upset but I know her intentions are in the right place. Still makes me fume a bit though.)

The last few lines of your post made me chuckle quite a bit have a star my friend . Oh how right you are

I think she probably didn't know his age.

I met the man of my dreams on World of Warcraft.

He claimed he was 25 with a good job, his own place and money in the bank.

I was 31 at the time.

It took two years for us to meet up in person. It turned out he was 16 ( when we met online) still went to school and lived at home with his parents.

I'd been fooled hook line and sinker.

We'd talked on the phone, exchanged pictures I never suspected that he'd lied all along - Of course in retrospect I see many signs that should have clued me in, but I was in love....*shrugs*

In any case, we've been living together for two years now - I moved to the the UK to be with him...I'll never forget the first time I met his mum..only 4 years difference between her and I!

I got lucky in that in the end it all worked out. I didn't go to jail, and his parents didn't think me a peadophile.

The bottom line is, that online you should assume that the other person is lying, they probably are.

reply to post by Merigold


Star for you, in a way it's kind of refreshing to hear a good story that comes about from something like this and glad it was able to be worked out for you

Though I suppose if the mother had been like the mother that was talked about in the article then perhaps it would have been a different story - but that lady seemed to have exchanged Lewd texts where as you did not, so perhaps that is why the mother was up in arms about it.

Again though a very nice story to counter-balance the bad ones we always hear about best of luck

P.S. - So many people playing WoW, why not play Final Fantasy XI

To me everyone on WoW talks like a 14 year old. But if I talk to them they claim to be 20+ (or 30 or 40+ even). I think many of them are children who do lie about their age, who either just want the respect an adult would get, or not get insulted for being a twelve year old. Adults get taken more seriously, I'm guilty of that somewhat, I have to admit.

Something tells me she knew though. I've been surprised by some mature young people before, but generally I can somehow tell when someone has only been on this earth for fourteen years. That doesn't mean she was on that game only to lure people, adults do play and enjoy that game. So I don't know, but I've got that feeling she knew what she was doing.

I'd like to also note that if this was a man people would reply differently, like the man would be worse. No, this woman is just as bad, your gender doesn't excuse your actions.

reply to post by Sara1


I agree, everygame seems to have their fair share of teenagers and children who like to say their age is much higher than it really is. Mainly to get them to respect them, but a few kids and teens seem to say their real age and just get the respect either way. At least it happens quite a bit on FFXI.

I Also agree with the notion that adults play the game for enjoyment to, because hey everyone needs a break from reality and an MMO is one of the best ways to go about doing so

As for the gender I'm not to sure, I think one of the reasons that it may appear unbalanced is because most often young girls are seen as "Vulnerable" while young boys aren't so much (if we paired them up as an older male after younger female and older female after younger male.) Also that double standard seems to come into play a bit. Not to mention the double standard that comes with the action as if the young boy did the act of sex and told his friends he'd be a 'Hero' for the girl she wouldn't be labeled and such and out of courtesy I will refrain from using ANY derogatory words.

Though yeah I agree both genders should receive the same amount of punishment no matter what.

Haha when I was 16-18 I bought liquor at a downtown store due to my personality, and I had a beard in grade 9, most people thought I was 19. Even at my current job... one creepy 50 year old came up to me and said the girls must go crazy... she said I had a perfect face and some weird things and she said, "if only I was 30 years younger" and I replied "oh." She said haha well lets pretend I'm 25... and I said um I'm 19. And she looked kind of embarassed but thanked me... I dont think people have as good of a grasp on age as you think.

By the way baby, your avatar is pretty hot for a cartoon, whats your number?
...just kidding.

Originally posted by Kailassa
The big question is, did she know his age?

I'd like all true paedophiles to be packed off to an island where there are no children.

I just get really sick of threads like this because it never takes long before someone throws the word "pedophile" around. Thanks to Dateline NBC, everyone has completely misconstrued that word. If a 14 year old can be the victim of pedophilia, he has far greater problems already than anything that teacher was going to do to him.

Pedophillia is the sexual attraction to PRE-pubescent children. 5,6,7,8 years old. When you are old enough to impregnate and become pregnant, you are far from the object of desire for pedophiles.

This woman may be a child molester. He might have been really mature and she just sucks at love. Either way, she is not a pedophile and I just wish people would stop seeing them everywhere. That is akin to when a 19 year old gets arrested for consensual sex with a 17 year old and is labeled a rapist. There is a world of difference.

Remember, in some states you can be permanently labeled as a sex offender just for being caught urinating outdoors. This country has gone crazy with this crap.