Woman who pretended to be a man to sleep with a female friend, jailed for 8 years
A woman who pretended to be a man in order to have sex with a fellow student, has been jailed for eight years.
Gayle Dawn Newland, 25, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault over the incidents in 2013, while both studied at the University of Chester. She was cleared of two further charges.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Newland had to be carried out of the court by dock officers after she was sentenced at Chester Crown Court.
Newland’s alleged victim – a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons – previously told Chester Crown Court that she had embarked on a relationship a “man” that she met on Facebook, who used the name ‘Kye Fortune’.
However, after the pair’s romance progressed, she met up with ‘Fortune’ in real life to have consensual sex.
The victim told the court she was convinced to wear a blindfold during sex sessions – because ‘Fortune’ claimed to have insecurities about his appearance due to injuries from a car accident.
But after meeting up on a number of occasions, the woman tore off the blindfold during a sexual encounter – and was shocked find not her supposed boyfriend, but Newland penetrating her with a prosthetic penis.
The woman claims that Newland had manufactured the fake identity, and disguised her appearance in real life by binding her breasts and wearing a hat, in order to pass as the fictional man and trick her into sex.
The alleged victim said: “When I was having sex I grabbed for the back of his head and my hand got caught on something. It did not feel right.
“I was sat on the bed, he was standing up. Something in my mind said ‘pull it [the blindfold] off, pull it off’.
“I just pulled it off. Gayle was just standing there… I just couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it. Straight away she held her hand down over her face and said ‘it’s not what you think’.”
She added: “I know it sounds pathetic, but I was just so happy at the time because I was in love with this person and we’d built this beautiful relationship.
“It was just based on, you know, our minds and all the other things that we had in common so I just felt grateful that I’d finally got a proper relationship.”
Judge Roger Dutton said that Newland had “serious issues surrounding her personality”.
The judge told her: “You have been convicted of serious charges. You must understand the consequences may be serious.”
He added: “Sentencing guidelines are quite clear that imprisonment is inevitable, but I need a good deal of further examination before I take that further step.”
However, Newland protested her innocence, shouting: “How can you send me down for something I have not done? I don’t understand, I don’t understand.”
