Woman jailed for rape of sleeping man

(CMR) A woman believed to be the UK's first convicted female rapist was handed a four-year sentence after admitting to having sex with a sleeping man.

Tanya Lord (41) was ordered to serve two years in jail and two under supervised license conditions. Judge Patrick Lynch KC said while neither he nor counsel could find any similar case anywhere in the UK, there “seems to be no distinction to be drawn between this and the rape of a female.”

Outlining how the victim has been left mentally scarred and suspicious of people by his ordeal, the judge said, ‘there's a repeated myth that males are less susceptible' to the consequences of sex attacks, the Daily Mail reported.

Lord, a lesbian from Lancashire, pleaded guilty to the sex attack at her home in Co Armagh at an earlier hearing at Craigavon Crown Court. She admitted causing a man ‘to engage in sexual activity with her involving penetration of her vagina with his penis and that he did not consent to the sexual activity, and she did not reasonably believe that he so consented.'

The court heard that the victim received counseling and had to be prescribed medication for his mental health. In an impact statement, the victim told the court: ‘I would not wish this on anyone,' adding that he would encourage anyone who has been abused to come forward.

Judge Lynch said if the myth about male victims ‘needs to be disabused, it can be disabused now by the contents of the victim impact statement I have just read out' and warning that ‘there's no distinction between male and female rape – the fact that a male is the victim doesn't make it any less serious than the rape of a female victim.'

The court heard how Lord forced the victim to have sex when they shared a bed at her home. The man had been out drinking all day and met up with Lord after she finished work on June 23, 2020.

They went back to her house, had a few more drinks and some food, and then went to bed with both wearing shorts. The victim believed that no sexual intercourse would take place because he understood that Lord was a lesbian. However, in the early hours of the morning, the victim woke and ‘felt a pain across his chest.'

He reportedly regained his senses and realized that his boxer shorts had been pulled down to his knees, and Lord was ‘straddling him, bouncing up and down.' The victim pushed her off, and she pretended to be asleep.

He then went downstairs and pretended to be asleep on the sofa when Lord brought his clothes down. When she left the room, he got dressed and left the property. He later reported the matter to the police.

He was taken to a rape center where swabs were taken from his private parts. The swabs helped form an overwhelming case against Lord, who had previously claimed there had been no sexual contact whatsoever; however, her complete DNA profile was found on the victim's penis.

After more than two years after the incident, she confessed. In addition to the four-year sentence, Lord was ordered to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of her life.