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Woman who pretended to be a teenager to abuse girls is sentenced to 8 years in prison

2020-01-10T23:32:13.919Z


Gemma Watts, 21, must pay an eight-year prison sentence for pretending to be a 16-year-old teenager to cheat and sexually abuse girls. He pleaded guilty to seven charges ...


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How to prevent and detect sexual abuse in minors? 1:13

(CNN) - A woman from Great Britain was sentenced to eight years in prison after she was impersonating a 16-year-old teenager to cheat and sexually abuse girls.

Gemma Watts, 21, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault and pedophile deception (or "grooming," as the term is known in English) in November 2019 and returned to the Winchester Crown Court to be sentenced this Friday, According to a police statement.

Gemma Watts pleaded guilty to seven crimes and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

"In this particular case, Watts chose his victims on social media platforms and tricked them into believing they were entering into a relationship with someone they could trust," said Phillipa Kenwright, one of the main detectives of the case and who belongs to the London Metropolitan Police.

"Then she built physical relationships in which she wove a web of lies and deceptions, which gave her the opportunity to commit sexual crimes," Kenwright added.

Watts used the alias "Jake Watton" to seduce young victims in messaging applications such as Facebook, Snapchat, Yubo and Instagram.

Police said his deception was "strange and elaborate," as Watts traveled from his home in Enfield, north London, to different parts of the country to meet his victims.

The investigation began in April 2018, when a medical professional informed Hampshire police that a 14-year-old girl reported a sexual assault by her boyfriend, known as Jake Watton.

Watts pretended to be a young man named "Jake Watton" to cheat and sexually assault his underage victims.

Authorities discovered that Jake Watton was in fact Gemma Watts, and later found two other victims, both under 18, who reported being cheated and sexually assaulted by someone using that name.

Watts was arrested in July 2018 after a search of her home. She admitted to cheating the girls and partially admitted several attacks.

He later released on bail, but continued to cheat girls, police said. In October 2018, Watts was discovered with a missing 15-year-old girl who said she had been sexually assaulted.

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Watts was then closely monitored under a Sexual Risk order to stop her recidivism, police said, before being charged on September 12, 2019.

"There was, in my opinion, planning and somehow predatory behavior," said Judge Susan Evans when she sentenced Watts, according to the PA Media news agency.

"Their age, as you knew, made them more likely to be sexually naive, allowing you to get away with it in deception," he added.

Watts lawyers were not available to comment.

Child abuse Child abuse Sexual abuse Sexual abuse Convictions

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-01-10

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