Care worker jailed for having a sexual relationship with a client and making her pregnant
A care worker who had a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman he was looking after and made her pregnant has been jailed.
Iain Barton, 58, of Glamis Road in Old Swan, Liverpool, was working night shifts as a support worker at a home on Merseyside for people recovering from mental health disorders.
He’d been working there for several years but left in December 2022.
The following month, the woman, who was much younger than Barton, revealed to staff that she had been in a sexual relationship with him.
She said the sex was consensual and had started a couple of years before. The victim had come to the home following hospital treatment for severe mental health problems.
A sexual relationship between a carer and a person with mental health issues whom they are looking after is a criminal offence.
Management at the home contacted the police, however, the victim was initially unwilling to support a prosecution.
But she changed her position when she discovered she was pregnant with Barton’s child.
Barton had been arrested in January 2023 but answered “No Comment” to all questions.
He was charged with five counts of sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder by a care worker. He pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court on 28 January 2025.
Today, 13 March 2025, at Liverpool Crown Court, he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
The CPS also successfully applied for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to be imposed on Barton. This states that he must not engage in any paid or unpaid activity (involving) contact with any person suffering from a mental disorder as defined by section 1 of the Mental Health Act.
The CPS also successfully applied for a restraining order to prevent him ever contacting the victim again.
In a Victim Personal Statement read to the court, the woman said: “This has probably been one of the worst times of my life. No remorse or care was shown towards our unborn child or its mother. The actions associated with this case have caused me so much hurt & distress. The lack of accountability for those actions have taken a massive toll on both my mental and physical health.”
Neil Colville, Head of CPS Mersey-Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit, said: “Iain Barton betrayed the trust of a vulnerable woman whom he had been tasked with looking after.
“The victim felt the relationship was consensual and genuine but it is a criminal offence for a carer to act in this way towards a person they are looking after and Barton would have known that.
“When he discovered he had made the woman pregnant he didn’t try to help her at all. His behaviour has devastated the victim who is already trying to deal with multiple issues.
“The Crown Prosecution Service would like to praise and commend the victim who has worked hard to support this prosecution despite all that has happened to her.
“We would also like to thank the staff and her relatives for their part in bringing this man to justice.”