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The family of “scheming” Gayle Newland cried out in shock as she was jailed for eight years after duping her female friend into sex using a fake penis.

Newland, 25, of Willaston, Neston, had to be carried to the cells at Chester Crown Court after collapsing in the dock, while relatives broke down in the public gallery.

During an eight day trial the court heard she had created the fake online profile of Kye Fortune, seducing the victim before convincing her to wear a mask and blindfold whenever they were together.

Newland then used a strap-on prosthetic penis to sexually assault the victim, who thought she was having sex with a man.

Judge Roger Dutton, sentencing Newland for three counts of sexual assault, said he found the victim in the case to be vulnerable and described the offence as a “callous breach of your friend’s trust.”

He said: “At 25 years-of-age you are an intelligent, obsessional, highly manipulative, deceitful, scheming and thoroughly determined young woman.”

The court heard how the victim in the case felt Newland had stolen her “youth and vitality.”

In a victim personal statement, read to the court by prosecution counsel Matthew Corbett-Jones, she said: “Socially I feel trapped. Still living in this invisible prison Gayle has made.”

She claimed she had been forced to move away from her home and felt she could not visit her friends.

Judge Dutton said: “You pursued this course of conduct over a lengthy period during which you played with her affections acting entirely for your own sexual satisfaction and choosing to ignore the devastating impact the eventual discovery of the truth would have on her.”

Nigel Power, QC, representing Newland, told the court his client had been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and had symptoms of an eating disorder.

He called for Judge Dutton to suspend any prison sentence, saying: “I say this for two reasons. The offending had real and obvious triggers that will never arise again, and secondly because the offending is so clearly linked to the psychiatric problems the defendant has suffered for so long.”

The court heard issues with her sexuality and her psychiatric difficulties were a “two way street”, with one exacerbating the other.

Mr Power said: “It is possible she became so reliant on the virtual world to form relationships it blurred out into the real world, in certain situations, she became Kye Fortune.

“The lines became blurred in part or wholly because of the psychiatric problems.”

But Judge Dutton said: “The victim spoke of the manipulation, grooming and deception of her by you.

“It is important to observe that the impact of these events has been most profound for her. She lost employment and I am quite sure that the psychological impact of her experience has been severe and will be long lasting. She speaks of the damage done to her spirit, person and life.”

Newland, who shouted “I’m scared” before her sentence was passed down, will serve approximately four years behind bars before being released on license.