A trans woman who lied to a man to stop him discovering she was born male before they had a sexual encounter has been convicted of sexual assault.
Ciara Watkin, 21, from Stockton, Teesside, spent a night with the man, who is of the same age, at a house in North Yorkshire after they met on SNapchat.
A court heard she moved his hand away when he tried to touch her breast and told him she was on her period so he did not touch her genitals, before proceeding to perform sex acts on him.
They met for a second time at his home, when Watkin met the victim’s mother, who suspected she was trans but didn’t say anything.
His friends also came over and suspected the same thing, jurors were told.
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Watkin, who has not had gender realignment surgery, later confessed that she had been born male.
The man filed a complaint with police, saying he would not have met her or engaged in sexual activity with her had he known as he does ‘not swing that way’.
A court heard Watkin made ‘full admissions’ to police, who found there was ‘no question she set out to deceive him as to her true gender’ in order to ‘secure sexual relations’.
She told officers she realised the relationship would have ended if the man knew she was trans.
But she denied sexual assault in court, with the defence arguing it would have been ‘blindingly obvious’ she is trans as she is ‘visibly and audibly’ someone who was born male.
Their case was that the victim must have realised Watkin’s gender status ‘from the outset’ and lied ‘to avoid the ridicule of his friends’.
They insisted Watkin only admitted the deception to police because she wanted to be seen as a woman.
The judge said: ‘The defence say this is an accused person who has fooled herself into believing she successfully deceived (him).
‘She so wants to be female, she has actually fooled herself.’
A jury of seven women and five men reached their verdicts after about an hour of deliberations.
Outside court, Sarah Nelson, senior Crown Prosecutor at CPS North East, said: ‘It is clear from the evidence in this case that, prior to engaging in sexual activity with the victim, Watkin had made no attempt to inform him of her transgender status.
‘The Crown Prosecution Service has shown that, by failing to disclose this to him, it would not have been possible for him to give informed consent to sexual activity.
Watkin, who has used the name Ciara since the age of 13, was granted bail and her sentencing may have to wait until a psychiatric report is carried out.
The judge said jail time ‘was the most overwhelming likelihood’ but urged prison authorities to consider the ‘very real management issues’ that jailing Watkin would pose.
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