Girl who ‘posed as man for sex’ wins retrial
A WOMAN had her conviction for using a sex toy to dupe a student into thinking she was a man quashed yesterday.
Gayle Newland sobbed after the Court of Appeal ruled the conviction was unsafe. The 26-year-old was released from prison on bail and will face a retrial next year.
The privately-educated marketing executive and personal trainer was jailed for eight years at Chester Crown Court last year after being found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by penetration.
A 25-year-old woman claimed Miss Newland tricked her into believing she was a man. Miss Newland insisted her accuser was aware she was a woman and that the £20 sex toy was part of a mutual sexual fantasy.
Lady Justice Hallett, Mr Justice King and Mr Justice Dove quashed the conviction on the grounds that trial judge Roger Dutton had failed to direct the jury properly.
Miss Newland, of Willaston in Cheshire, watched proceedings via a video link from Low Newton prison in Durham.
As she held her face in her hands she was asked by Justice Hallett if she understood what was going on. She wiped away her tears and replied: ‘Yes, I think so.’ Miss Newland had been convicted by a jury on a majority verdict of ten to two.
The Court of Appeal said the retrial should not be heard by Judge Dutton.
The daughter of a former building firm boss who grew up in a £500,000 house in the Wirral, Miss Newland attended £12,400a-year Queen’s School in nearby Chester.
On her LinkedIn business profile, she describes herself as ‘a creative individual; always full of fresh ideas’.
After graduating in creative writing and marketing from Chester University, she landed a job at a marketing agency.