Georgia Bilham outside Chester Crown Court - Andrew Price

A woman posed as a man in order to deceive her short-sighted female victim into having a sexual relationship, a court has heard.

Georgia Bilham, 21, is accused of renaming herself “George Parry”, disguising herself in men’s clothing and removing her victim’s glasses whenever they were together, to fool her into believing she was in a genuine heterosexual relationship.

The deception was only discovered when the woman’s mother became suspicious and told her daughter she did not believe her boyfriend was a man.

Chester Crown Court heard that while the victim had agreed to sexual activity with “George”, she had not consented to sexual activity with the defendant, who is charged with 17 offences, including sexual assault and assault by penetration.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Anna Pope, said: “It is a case about this defendant deceiving someone that she was, in fact, a young man.

No ‘true consent’

“And that means, we say, that all the sexual activity that took place between those two people, was based on a false pretence – and so did not involve true consent.”

The jury heard how the defendant’s online profile had the name “George_132” and featured a cartoon image of a blonde man with sunglasses.

The pair began messaging one another online before eventually meeting up in person when the defendant always wore boy’s clothing and kept her hood pulled up.

Posing as George Parry, Ms Bilham claimed to have links with an Albanian crime gang in order to support the deception.

The court was told that the victim was short-sighted and whenever they were together the defendant would remove her glasses for much of the time, so she could not see Ms Bilham clearly.

The jury heard how the alleged victim’s eyesight is “very poor”.

‘Essentially blind’

She was described as being short-sighted with anything more than 14cm from her face being blurred, meaning that without her glasses she was “essentially blind”.

Despite the relationship becoming sexual, the jury was told that when they spent the night together the defendant would keep her clothes on, even in bed.

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The victim grew frustrated that the defendant showed an unwillingness to be touched intimately and often “gave excuses”.

Ms Pope said it wasn’t known if Ms Bilham was sexually attracted to the woman or whether she “gained some form of buzz from duping” her.

The court heard the defendant would regularly pick the victim up in her car but on one occasion had been approached by police after being involved in an accident.

Ms Pope suggested Ms Bilham had “panicked” because she feared her true identity would be revealed.

The victim overheard officers refer to the name Georgia, but when she confronted her and asked about her true gender, she was told it was a fake driving licence.

As the victim’s suspicions grew, however, she asked the defendant to prove his identity.

But Ms Bilham claimed he did not have a passport and simply sent her selfie-style photographs of a young man with blonde hair and no top on.

But it is alleged Ms Bilham’s true identity was revealed in August 2021 when, posing as George, she met the victim’s mother for the first time.

The court heard that she had seen the photographs Ms Bilham had sent her daughter and did not believe it was the same person.

Fake persona

Ms Pope said that as the victim started to ask more questions “she began to realise the persona of George Parry was entirely fake, created by the real Georgia Bilham”.

Ms Bilham allegedly apologised to the victim, telling her the deception “just took over my life”.

She was later arrested and charged but answered “no comment” to all questions during police interviews, the court heard.

Ms Bilham, from Alpraham, Cheshire, denies all 17 charges and the trial continues.