Gemma Barker is facing jail after leading a double life as a boy to seduce two schoolgirls and have sexual relationships with them.
The 20-year-old invented three alter-egos to target her 16-year-old friends on the social networking website Facebook before posing as the characters by wearing loose clothing and hats for sexual encounters.When the complex cross-dressing ruse seemed to be unravelling, Barker even injured herself and blamed one of her fictional personalities before trying to claim compensation for a fractured jaw.Barker, who admitted two counts of sexual assault and one count of fraud, was told by Judge Peter Moss that she was either “bad and dangerous to know or mad and dangerous to know.”
Guildford Crown Court heard how she hoodwinked her friends by pretending to be Aaron Lampard, Connor McCormack and Luke Jones.After finding out her victims’ “ideal boy”, Barker started a relationship with two of them using a disguise, the court heard. A 16-year-old girl believed she was in a relationship with “Aaron” while her younger friend had been introduced to “Connor”.It was only when the younger girl suspected “Connor” of posing as “Aaron” after the pair had been kissing that she called the police.
Believing they had arrested “Aaron” on suspicion of sexual assault and after asking him to change clothes, officers realised they had actually arrested Barker.Ruby Selva, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was 19 years old when she befriended her victims, who were 16 and 15 years old.”Having befriended them she disguised herself as various 16-year-old boys for the sole purpose of having sexual relationships with them. Neither had any idea it was Miss Barker – their friend.
“If either of them had known of the deceit, that the boy they were having a relationship with was Miss Barker, they would not have consented to the acts.”Chetna Patel, defending, said Barker, of Staines, Surrey, was a “rather lonely character” who had wanted to please her friend by being her ideal boyfriend.Releasing Barker on bail, Judge Moss said: “What concerns me is that it has got a very mean and manipulative streak to it. And it’s very serious. The girls she preyed on are much younger than her.”By releasing you on bail, I’m not giving any indication of what the sentence will be.” – Thetelegraph
