Emily Timms, 23, (pictured) pretended to be a 20-year-old man called Joey Knight
A young woman who posed as a man to trick two teenage girls into performing sex acts on themselves and send explicit images online was today jailed for three years.
Emily Timms, 23, pretended to be a 20-year-old called Joey Knight after she set up a fake social media profile to communicate with her victims via FaceTime.
Each time she sat in a darkened room with her face hidden from view and spoke in a man’s voice, Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, heard.
When the girls asked why they could not see ‘him’, Timms would reply it was because she ‘did not look good’.
She also encouraged one girl to perform sex acts with a deodorant can and a vibrator she had sent her in the post.
Timms, from Crawley, West Sussex, would then perform sexual acts on herself.
Other ‘gifts’ included a designer Marc Jacobs watch, flowers, soft toys and chocolates, with notes professing his love.
Timms often spoke to the girls over the phone by adopting a male voice, but she used her own when she pretended to be Joey’s sister ‘Daisy’ and spoke of her ‘brother’s’ feelings.
Her deceit was said to have been inspired by the MTV programme Catfish in which people form online relationships but have never met in person.
Timms was finally rumbled when contact was made with the real Joey Knight, who was a friend of a friend on her Facebook account.
She was confronted, but then threatened to publish the images of one of the teenage girls if she did not return the watch.
The court heard Timms (pictured) would sit in a darkened room with her face hidden from view and adopted a man’s voice
The court also heard the second victim only discovered she had been conned when police tracked her down.
Timms admitted three charges of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without their consent, one of causing child pornography and one of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography.
The offences were committed between July 2012 and March last year.
Urging the court to impose a suspended sentence, Alexia Zimbler, defending, said Timms was confused by her sexuality at the time and, althoughshe acted dishonestly, she did not realise she was committing a crime.
However, Judge Charles Macdonald QC said the offences were so serious that ‘proper punishment and deterrence’ were required.
He added: ‘I do accept she didn’t believe she was committing a crime although she was adopting a dishonest trick.
‘She claims to have been confused by her sexuality and inspired by a TV programme called Catfish to adopt a false identity in the hope of finding a happy ending with a female partner.
‘I accept this is a situation the defendant currently believes but I don’t accept it was her real thinking at the time of the offences.
‘Doubts about sexual orientation are common in young people and can be, and are, widely tested without pretending to be a man to deceive an underage girl, let alone two.
Timms (pictured) encouraged one girl to perform sex acts with a deodorant can and a vibrator she had sent her in the post
‘It is obtaining sexual gratification by deception.’
Timms cried and wiped her eyes in the dock after being jailed.
She must sign on the sex offender register and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order restricting internet use for 10 years, and will be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults indefinitely.
She denied a further offence of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography, and one of blackmail in relation to the watch.
These not guilty pleas were accepted by the prosecution and ordered to be left on the court file.