A woman in Britain who duped her female friend into having sex by pretending to be a man over a two year period has been jailed for eight years.

25-year-old Gayle Newland from Willaston in Cheshire disguised her appearance and voice.

She persuaded the other woman to put on a blindfold when they met up.

Newland pretended to be a man called Kye Forturne, wearing bandages across her chest and a swimsuit when they met up, Chester Crown Court heard previously.

The pair had sex about 10 times until the complainant, also aged 25, took off her blindfold and in disbelief saw Newland wearing a prosthetic penis.

The jury convicted Newland of three counts of sexual assault. She was cleared of two other counts of sexual assault.

Judge Roger Dutton said the defendant had "serious issues surrounding her personality".

The defendant had admitted creating a fake Facebook account in the name of Kye Fortune, but she claimed her accuser always knew she was pretending to be a man.

In 2011, Kye Fortune sent a Facebook friend request to the complainant and the pair went on to frequently talk over the phone.

The court heard that 'Kye' told the woman that he had been involved in a car accident and was then diagnosed with a brain tumour.

"I was so desperate to be loved"

He claimed that due to hospital treatment he could not meet up with the complainant in person.

Then 'Kye' "introduced" the complainant to his "best friend", Newland, and they met up in person and became close. 'Kye' and the complainant finally met up in 2013.

The complainant previously told the court: "Every time I met up with Kye Fortune I either had the mask on already or he would wait outside the door and I would put it on. I was so desperate to be loved. It's pathetic, so desperate for love, so desperate".

"We were just lying there, just cuddling, sometimes we would watch films, sometimes we would just talk. It sounds stupid to say but it was a proper relationship, just normal""

She went on: "Since the first time I wrote to this person on Facebook, I thought it was a male. I told my friends I was engaged to a guy. I told my work colleagues".

She told the court she was not attracted to women. Newland told the court that it was all part of role play because they both struggled with their sexuality.