Transgender woman posed as teenager online and shared indecent images

Emma Davies, 60, pretended to be a 14-year-old to talk to girls of a similar age and shared an explicit image of a young girl she had received, presenting it as herself.

The supermarket worker told Workington Magistrates’ Court she took responsibility for what happened but that person was ‘not who she is today’.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Pamela Fee said police attended Davies’ home address at Moor Place in Frizington on August 31 last year.

Officers had received information that Davies, who was then known as Nigel, had been accessing images of children online.

Police seized devices and a category C image was located on two devices. The image was of a 13-year-old girl and there were other images of the same child on the devices.

Davies was first interviewed by police on August 31. She said she had been diagnosed as a ‘possible transexual’ and thought she could be a girl.

The defendant said she had never asked for sexual images. She said she had pretended to be a 14-year-old girl online and had talked to girls of a similar age.

They talked about things such as music and depression, she said, and it ‘allowed her to be someone who is not me’.

Davies was interviewed again in December 2023 and was shown the image that had been found on her devices.

She said she could recall the image but didn’t know who it was. She said they had ‘got talking’ and the girl had sent a topless image without her asking.

Davies couldn’t remember which platform it had been sent on and said she believed the girl was 13 or 14. The defendant said she thought she would have been presenting  as a teenage girl when the image was sent to her.

She said the image wasn’t for her own sexual gratification but was for the ‘persona of who she wanted to be’.

Davies said she had then shared the image of the girl online, pretending it was herself. She said she was always in her ‘teen girl role’ when she shared the images. 

The defendant transitioned in February this year, the court heard.

Ms Fee said: “There’s clearly a need for a sexual harm prevention order. There is a risk of further sexual harm.

“She was presenting herself as a young girl to speak to other young girls of a similar age. She has used devices to speak to people before and then got rid of them.

“A small number of images were found. She sent those images on to other people, presenting them as herself. That person is a victim of sexual abuse online.”

Davies, who was not legally represented, told the court: “It’s quite a difficult period in my life. I have a little bit of concern about who I am today and what happened back then. That wasn’t me.

“I have moved on with who I am. I take responsibility for what was happening. I didn’t distribute images, as far as I can remember. For anything that happened, I am sorry.

“Over the last nine months, I have lost a lot. I made the decision to rebuild my life. I’m transitioning. I would like the opportunity to progress with that.

“I’m the happiest I have ever been in my life. When I speak to probation, it’s distressing for me to go back to a person that I am not. I don’t like that person.

“It was me but it’s not me now.”

Davies told magistrates she was not a threat to the public and no longer goes online.

She said: “I want to move away and start again because that’s not going to happen round here.

“The person I was, wasn’t a very nice person, I suppose. I find it very distressing and unsettling to bring this person back into my life.”

Davies, of Moor Place, Frizington, had admitted making two category C indecent images of a child and failing to surrender to court bail at an earlier hearing.

Passing sentence, magistrates imposed a five-year sexual harm prevention order and a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Davies is required to present herself at the police station as a sex offender within three days.

She was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.