Woman Convicted Of Assault While Posing As Boy

Georgia Bilham, a 21-year-old woman from Chesire, England, has been convicted of one charge of assault after being accused of deceiving a teenage girl into engaging in an intimate relationship with her by posing as a boy named George.

A woman who posed as a man to lure a short-sighted teenager into a relationship has been found guilty of sexual assault https://t.co/pjPjG5EYi4

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) June 14, 2023

 

According to the prosecution’s account, Bilham deceived her victim into believing she was a young man from Birmingham by meticulously disguising her identity through a fake Snapchat profile. Their relationship escalated, culminating in an intimate encounter, with the girl still under the impression that Bilham was a boy.

Bilham’s disguise included boys’ clothing, as she always put her hood up to conceal her long blonde hair. To avoid suspicion, she claimed she was trying to avoid an Albanian drug gang. Per LBC, the girl told her mother “George” always has his hood up even during their intimate moments due to social anxiety.

During some of their encounters, Bilham allegedly removed the girl’s glasses, leaving her practically blind. She even went as far as speaking with a Birmingham accent to maintain the charade which reportedly went on for four years.

It wasn’t until the girl’s mother grew suspicious and informed her daughter that George was, in fact, a girl that the truth began to unravel. Upon investigating Bilham’s social media presence, the girl discovered the elaborate deceit and was overwhelmed with shock as she told authorities she was not gay.

The prosecution argued that the girl, unaware of Bilham’s true gender, couldn’t have given full consent to the intercoursal activities. They portrayed Bilham as a skillful manipulator and “accomplished liar” who had crafted a fictional character Parry to engage her alleged victim in an intimate relationship.

Bilham, admitting to pretending to be George, claimed she had fallen into a complex “web of lies.” While she acknowledged engaging in sexual activity with the girl, she argued that the teenager was aware of her true female identity.

Bilham denied any attempts to mimic male anatomy or manipulate the girl, asserting that her fabrications aimed solely at concealing her real identity. She explained that she created the George Parry profile as an “escape” from her dissatisfaction with herself, without harboring any intentions of misleading the girl into an intimate relationship.

In her defense, Bilham’s lawyer, Martine Snowdon, asserted that both parties were aware of the fictional nature of the George persona. Snowdon stated that although Bilham had indeed lied about who she was, the teenager willingly continued the relationship, aware of the truth.

Snowdon told the jury about an incident where Bilham crashed her mother’s vehicle into a hedge while accompanied by the girl. When the police arrived, the girl allegedly overheard Bilham disclosing her real name, leading Bilham to believe that the girl was aware of her true gender from that point onward.

Following the revelation, the girl reportedly confronted Bilham, stating, “Just admit you’ve been caught out, I know more than enough now.”

While Dilham was charged with nine counts of sexual assault and eight counts of assault by penetration, the jury ultimately found her guilty of one count of sexual assault after a 10-day trial, while the remaining 16 charges were dismissed. She was released on bail until her sentencing on July 19.