Tanya Lord jailed for sexual assault on sleeping man

Tanya Lord (pictured) previously admitted the offence

A 41-year-old woman who sexually assaulted a man while he slept has been jailed for two years.

Tanya Lord, from Derrylodge Manor in Lurgan, County Armagh, had previously admitted to engaging in sexual activity without the man's consent at her house on 23 June 2020.

She was sentenced to two years in jail and two under supervised licence at Craigavon Crown Court.

A judge said there was "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," added Judge Patrick Lynch.

He said neither he, nor the prosecution, could find any similar case anywhere in the UK.

The judge told the court the victim has had to undergo counselling, had been prescribed medication and had been left untrusting of people.

"I would not wish this on anyone," he said in a victim impact statement.

DNA

A prosecution barrister said the victim had been drinking all day when he met Lord after she had finished work.

They went back to her house and continued drinking, the court was told, and later went to bed together.

The court heard the victim knew Lord was a lesbian and there was therefore "a proper assumption and understandable assumption that there would be no sexual activity and none was forthcoming as regards consent in his part".

During the the night the victim had woke to find Lord on top of him.

"He pushed her off and she pretended to be asleep," the solicitor said.

He added that the victim got up and went downstairs "to process what had happened".

Lord's DNA was later found on her victim during an examination, the court was told.

"Factually this case involved a woman having sex with a man without his consent and there should be parity between male victims of sexual crime and female victims," the prosecution solicitor said.

He added that to do otherwise would affirm the "myth that men are less affected by sexual assault than women".

A defence barrister said Lord, who suffers from a personality disorder and has poor mental health, had expressed "remorse for her offending and some victim awareness".

"She understands the position she had put herself in and she expresses, through me today, her remorse and her apologies to the victim for the unfortunate and regrettable incident," he said.

As he passed sentence, the judge said there was "a repeated myth that males are less susceptible" to the consequences of sex attacks.

He also imposed a seven-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered Lord to sign the sex offender's register for life.