Court hears of amazing double life of girl, 19, who disguised herself as a boy so she could date GIRLS

Gemma Barker had sexual encounters with two friends posing as three separate boys

Victims and their families were fooled even though they knew the real Gemma

She faces jail after admitting sexual assault



Identity was only discovered after removing her clothes in police cells

Teenager wore baggy clothes and spoke like a boy to change her identity

Scheme involved 'deception of everyone around her'

'Manipulative': Gemma Barker, pictured today, pretended to be three separate teenage boys so she could have romantic encounters with girls

With her crushes on boy bands, love of TV soaps and dreams of becoming an actress, Gemma Barker seemed like any normal teenager.

But behind the innocent aspirations and her shy smile, the 19-year-old led a double life that saw her pose as a boy in order to date two younger girlfriends to whom she was sexually attracted.

In an extraordinary deception, she created false alter egos so she could have sexual encounters with her 15 and 16-year-old victims.

She had three fake identities - Aaron Lampard, Connor McCormack and Luke Jones.



She tricked her victims by talking like a boy and wore boys’ baggy clothes, hats and hooded tops to disguise her figure.

She set up Facebook profiles for each ‘boy’ and gave each an individual dress sense and personality.



'Manipulative' Barker incredibly completely fooled her friends and their families by posing as three different teenage boys.

The victims were completely taken in and kissed and cuddled with her – despite both having gone to the same school as Barker.

Eventually they became suspicious that their ‘boyfriends’ were the same person.



One took off Connor’s hat as ‘he’ slept in her bedroom and realised it was her friend’s supposed boyfriend Aaron.

Fraud: Gemma Barker, 19, pretended to be three separate teenage boys so she could have romantic encounters with female victims

Disguise: Barker, pictured here with actor and Dancing on Ice star Kieron Richardson, wore baggy clothes and changed her voice to dupe her victims

It was only when - in the guise of one of her fake identities Aaron Lampard - she was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and her clothes were removed in the cells that police discovered her true identity.

Barker's two victims were completely taken in and had sexual encounters with the person they variously believed was Lampard, Connor McCormack or Luke Jones.

DEFENDANTS IN DISGUISE GENDER-BEND THE LAW





Last January Samantha Brooks was charged with obtaining sexual contact by fraud after being accused of posing as a man called Lee Brooks in order to have sexual contact with two women, one in Perthshire, the other in London, between 2001 and 2009.

The charge alleges that she pretended to each woman that she suffered from testicular cancer and that they could not therefore handle her penis, in an attempt to induce each to believe that she had a penis. It alleges she tried to hide her breasts from the women by telling one that she had suffered burns on her back and needed to wear bandages around the chest area. She allegedly told the other that she had suffered a stab wound to the torso which meant she had to wear bandages and clingfilm around the chest. Brooks, 26, was accused of placing a condom on an object she purported to be her penis and using it to obtain sexual intimacy with both women, which she knew they would not otherwise consent to. The charges, which Brooks denied, were eventually dropped after a witness refused to co-operate. In May last year, Joanna Hayes (above) was jailed for life after disguising herself in a wig and moustache before shooting dead her daughter-in-law in Snellville, Georgia. Hayes, 45, killed Heather Strube, 25, while wearing the disguise and was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.

In Mexico, Aaron Vera Morales underwent gender altering surgery in a bid to avoid arrest for a minor fraud charge.

The 33-year-old was wanted for defrauding a government health agency when he was arrested last June while carrying his new female identity.

In Britain, a student who wore a female rubber mask while spying on women in shopping centre toilets escaped jail.

Joel Hardman, 22, also donned a black wig so he could slip into the women's toilets unnoticed at the Bullring in Birmingham.

He was caught by a female shopper in April last year.

Barker, from Staines, Middlesex, now faces jail after admitting two counts of sexual assault and one of fraud by tricking the girls into relationships.

Prosecutors at Guildford Crown Court told how she reinforced her deception by setting up Facebook profiles for her different personas and even had individual dress styles for them.

She wore different hats, hoodies and other baggy clothing to mask her identity, walking and talking like a boy.

Judge Peter Moss told Barker he could not be sure whether she was 'bad and dangerous to know or mad and dangerous to know'.

Barker's disguise was so convincing that when one of the victims removed a sleeping 'Connor’s' hat following a petting session, she was shocked to discover it was her best friend’s boyfriend 'Aaron' she had been kissing.

Even at that point she did not realise the boy was actually a female friend.

When the net was closing in, Barker deliberately fractured her jaw and tried to blame her 'Luke Jones' alter-ego for attacking her and forcing her to pose as 'Aaron'.

She even tried to claim compensation for her injuries.

Prosecutor Ruby Selva told the court: '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.'

Barker struck up an online relationship with the older victim by inventing the fictitious character 'Aaron Lampard', and the pair became a 'couple'.



The girl met 'Aaron' in various parks and even took him home to her family, Ms Selva said.

The prosecutor said the 16-year-old's parents were taken in by the disguise, even though they had met Gemma Barker.



Ms Selva added: 'They (her parents) described never really seeing "Aaron Lampard’s" face because of the hat being pulled down so low or him averting his eyes from them.'



Barker engaged in 'kissing, cuddling and groping' with the girl as Lampard before creating another boy persona and befriending a second victim.



It was through 'Lampard' that the 16-year-old's younger friend met 'Connor McCormack'.

'Connor' had slightly different clothing but still concealed 'himself' with a hoodie and baggy clothes when with the girl.



The younger victim began a relationship with 'McCormack', despite having met both 'Lampard' and the real Barker.



In May 2010 the bizarre story took a further twist when the second girl removed 'McCormack's' hat and saw who she thought was 'Lampard'.



Ms Selva added: 'As far as the second girl is concerned a third character - ‘Luke Jones’ - was introduced, again via ‘Aaron Lampard’ and ‘Connor McCormack'.

'She described on one occasion kissing him. She described similar clothing, a hat and a hoodie being up.'

Prosecutors told Guildford Crown Court (pictured) neither of Barker's victims had 'any idea' of her true identity



After the alleged infidelity, the girls became suspicious and contacted police.



'Lampard' was arrested in June 2010 but it was only when he was searched that Barker's identity was revealed.

Barker described herself as an 'actress' on her Twitter feed.



The cross-dresser said of herself: 'I love life and live to make people laugh. I try to be a best i can. Im an actress, loving my job. Never say Never !!!'



One Direction fan Barker repeatedly bombards the five members of the X-Factor band, which includes Harry Styles and Zane Malik, with tweets.



One message to Niall Horan read: 'Please make my night and follow me xxx'



Another to Zayn Malik said: 'Miss you at the airport cos i'm ill :( promise ill see you next time xxx'.

Gemma also regularly tweeted the X Factor contestants during the ITV show and also posts about hanging around at Shepperton Studios.

Judge Moss said her case involved 'fairly lengthy and convoluted deception' of everybody around Barker.

He told her: 'What concerns me is, however unusual it is, it has got a very mean, manipulative streak to it.'