Woman jailed by Northern Ireland judge for raping a man in what is believed to be first case of its kind in UK

Judge Patrick Lynch KC made the comments as he imposed a four-year sentence on Tanya Lord (41) after she admitted having sex with a sleeping man.

Ordering Lord to serve two years in jail and two under supervised licence conditions, Judge Lynch 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, who watched proceedings at Craigavon Crown Court by videolink on Friday (March 10), 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.

He revealed that the victim has had to undergo counselling, is still prescribed medication for his mental health, has been left untrusting of people and “feels alone” unless he’s with his kids.

"I would not wish this on anyone,” the victim said in his impact statement, adding however 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.”

On the day her trial was due to start last December, Lord, whose address was given as Derrylodge Manor in Lurgan, entered a guilty plea that on June 23, 2020, she caused a man “to engage in sexual activity that he did not consent to”.

Opening the facts of the case for the first time, prosecuting lawyer Joseph Murphy outlined how the victim had been drinking all day and met up with Lord after she finished work.

They went back to her house, had a few more drinks and some food and then went to bed with each party wearing shorts.

The court heard however that as Lord “is a lesbian and he knew her sexual propensity 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.”

​Mr Murphy said, however, that in the early hours of the morning, the victim woke up to find himself being raped. Lord’s DNA profile was later found on swabs taken from the victim.

Addressing specific aspects of the unusual case, Mr Murphy argued the fact that the victim asleep and vulnerable when he was attacked was an aggravating feature while in mitigation, Lord had admitted her guilt.

Highlighting that he could find no similar cases, he submitted the court should take guidance from sentencing in rape cases.

"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,” Mr Murphy argued, submitting that to do otherwise would affirm the “myth that men are less affected by sexual assault than women.”

Defence counsel Michael Ward said Lord, who suffers from a personality disorder and has poor mental health, “has 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,” said the barrister.

In addition to the four-year sentence, Judge Lynch also imposed a seven-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order, warning Lord that if she breached any of the three conditions “that will be a criminal offence” that could carry a jail sentence.

He also ordered Lord to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of her life.