Blindfold sex attacker convicted

A WOMAN who used a blindfold to dupe her friend into believing she was having sex with a man cried “I can’t go back to jail” as she was reconvicted.

Gayle Newland, 27, created a “disturbingly complex” online persona to achieve “bizarre sexual satisfaction”.

A retrial jury at Manchester Crown Court found her guilty of committing sexual assault by using a prosthetic penis without her victim’s consent.

The defendant, who had her original conviction quashed last year, cried in the dock, saying: “I can’t go back to jail.”

The complainant said she was made by the defendant to wear a blindfold at all times when they met and only found out she was having sex with Newland when she finally took off her mask.

Newland claimed her accuser knew she was posing as Kye Fortune – a Facebook profile she created aged 15 using an American man’s photographs and videos – as they engaged in role play while struggling with their sexuality.

The Recorder of Manchester, Judge David Stockdale QC, granted Newland bail ahead of sentencing on July 20. But he said the “overwhelming likelihood” was that she would receive “a significant immediate custodial sentence”.

Newland was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and cleared of a fourth count.