A woman who posed as a boy to assault up to 50 young girls has been jailed for eight years.

Gemma Watts, 21, used social media to snare her victims, some as young as 14. At least one came from Kent.

Winchester Crown Court heard how she pretended to be 16-year-old Jake Waton on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram and then travelled around Britain to meet her targets.

She duped them by bundling her long hair under a baseball cap and wearing baggy tops and trousers.

Watts, who was 19 when she was caught, posted videos of scooters and skateboarding, showered her victims with compliments and gave them pet names such as Babe.

She continued to prey and sexually assault them even after police began investigating her.

Detectives say her teenage victims were left traumatised and only discovered 'Jake' was a woman when police told them. They say her victims could be affected for life.

Watts, who was unemployed and lived with her mother in Enfield, was first brought to police attention in March 2018. After initially denying allegations she was arrested in the July and eventually admitted to being 'Jake' and sexually active with her victims.

In the November she was handed an interim sexual risk order from Stratford magistrates. Within two weeks she was accused of breaking into a school with a 15-year-old boy.

She was found not guilty of burglary but charged with breaching the sexual risk order and sentenced to two months' jail which was reduced to a 12-month community order following an appeal.

When police called at her home in March last year to check up on her they discovered she had gone to Kent to visit a friend. Officers phoned her and realised she was in the company of a 17-year-old girl.

She was told to return to London where she was arrested for breaching the sexual risk order. Two days later the teenage girl claimed she had been sexually assaulted by Watts.

"They believed they were in a relationship with a young teenage boy. She duped them the whole time "- DC Kenwright

Watts was remanded in custody until her trial in August when she was found not guilty of the sexual offence but pleaded guilty to breaching her sexual risk order.

The Crown Prosecution Service then allowed police to press seven additional charges relating to four other victims ranging from meeting a child following sexual grooming, sexual assault and assault by penetration. In November she pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced today.

She was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and given a life-long Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Barnaby Shaw, prosecuting, said Watts had repeatedly groped one of the victims during overnight stays.

On one occassion the girls believed she was touching Watts' private parts but was deceived by "a number of socks tightly rolled together."

DC Phillipa Kenwright, the Met's safeguarding lead, estimated Watts had targeted as many as 50 victims.

She said: "If the first known victim had not approached her doctor, Watts might not have been brought to police attention and could have continued offending for a very long time.

"This has had a huge effect on the victims. It has been life-changing for all those involved.

"They believed they were in a relationship with a young teenage boy. She duped them the whole time. It is baffling.

"A lot of these victims are young, innocent and were completely take in by Jake Waton.

"For the first victim, aged 14, it was her first relationship. It has been traumatic for all of them. We would like to praise them for their bravery."

She added: "These kind of cases are incredibly rare. But it does highlight the dangers of social media and how easy it is for perpetrators to set up profiles and approach young people, male or female, and go on to groom them."

She said she believed Watts had continued to offend even when police were involved and said: "From my view, she has never shown any remorse to the victims. I believe she presents an ongoing risk to young people.

"She spun a web of lies and deceit giving her the opportunity to commit sexual offences.

“Her arrest, and now lengthy prison sentence, has prevented her from targeting further victims. I hope it gives reassurance to other victims of sexual exploitation that offenders will be brought to justice. I encourage them to come forward and speak to us.

“I am delighted with the sentence and hope it acts as a warning to others intent on exploiting and manipulating children online that they will be dealt with robustly.”

Anyone who has any information that could lead to an arrest, or protect a child from online abuse, should call 999 or contact the NSPCC or the Internet Watch Foundation at www.iwf.org.uk.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent