Woman tricked girlfriend into thinking she was a man

A WOMAN duped her girlfriend of two years into believing she was having sex with a man, a court has heard.

Blade Silvano, 40, is accused of carrying out a “sophisticated” scam to convince her partner, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, that she was a man.

Jurors heard how the pair met on an online dating site in 2016, had sexual intercourse on two separate occasions, and had discussed wedding plans.

Miss Silvano is said to have used an “unknown item” to penetrate her girlfriend and always kept her T-shirt on and boxers on when intimate.

It is claimed she always made her partner wear a blindfold and rebuffed the alleged victim’s touches.

Her partner, who referred to Miss Silvano as “he” throughout the hearing, only discovered Miss Silvano’s real gender via Facebook nearly two years later, Cambridge Crown Court heard yesterday.

She told the court: “I was able to move my hands freely, the side, his back, I was never able to put my hands underneath his clothes or down his boxers. He would rebuff me every time I tried to make an advance, he would nudge me away. He was using sex toys on me; it was not allowed the other way round.” Miss Silvano, of Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire, denied two counts of assault by penetration.

Giving evidence, the alleged victim said Miss Silvano had given her surname as Mendez and that she had not consented to having a relationship with a woman.

During cross-examination, the alleged victim denied that the relationship had all been part of a “roleplay” and an online “fantasy” between the couple.

She also denied claims that she had only communicated with Miss Silvano via video calls and texts on Whatsapp and that she had never met her “in the flesh”.

Miss Silvano is said to have told her girlfriend she served as a vet in the British Army.

On one occasion, they had been due to go to an “officers’ dinner” together but Miss Silvano pulled out after telling her she had been “injured by a cow”, the court heard.

The alleged victim said: “He did say he’d been injured by a cow and then sent me a picture of his leg elevated after going to hospital.”

The trial also heard details of their wedding preparations, which the defence again argued was all part of their roleplay. The trial, listed for five days, continues.