According to the BBC, Gemma Watts had created fake profiles on social media, where she appeared as a 16-year-old teenager named Jake Waton. Through these accounts, he located underage girls, met them and exchanged bold photos with them, and then asked to meet them up close.
According to the Guardian, the 21-year-old used her own photo on Snapchat and Instagram, posing with boyish clothes, a hat and her long hair in a plait, managing to deceive her victims about her gender. The young woman, who lived in Enfield, north London with her mother, was "bombarding" her potential victims with compliments and tender messages, gaining their trust.
The young woman targeted underage girls, mostly from 14-16 years old, and traveled many kilometers by train to meet her victims and sexually abuse them. Several girls were convinced that they were having an online relationship with a teenage boy and so they agreed to meet her, without a second thought. The Guardian reports that Watts was so convincing that even some of the girls' parents had met her without suspecting anything.
The 21-year-old faces a fairly long prison sentence, having pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexually abusing and seducing minors.
The charges against four girls, a 14-year-old from Hamshair and a three-year-old from Sarei, Plymouth and West Midlands. According to the Guardian, all the victims of the 15-year-old believed that they were in a relationship with a 21-year-old, until they learned the truth from the authorities.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said authorities believed the victim was much younger. "I think there will be even more victims who may have been involved with Watts but have not yet realized that they are women. I think we can talk about 20-50 people, "said Phillipa Kenwright.
"It was an experience that changed the lives of all the victims. They believed they were in a relationship with a young boy and then learned that she was a woman. For some of the girls it was their first relationship; it had completely fooled them. Many girls are young and innocent, "said Phillipa Kenwright, of the Metropolitan Police.