Woman jailed for posing as man to dupe partner into sex found guilty of similar deception

Jury finds Blade Silvano, who presented herself as a male army veteran, guilty of six counts of sexual assault

A woman serving a prison sentence for sexual assault after pretending to be a man and duping a woman into a physical relationship has been found guilty of tricking another woman into a similar abusive partnership.

In both cases, Blade Silvano, 44, met the women on an online dating site and falsely claimed she was a man who had served in the armed forces before meeting them in person and sexually assaulting them.

Both women said Silvano tricked them into believing she was male and neither had any idea they were being deceived.

Silvano was jailed in 2023 in Cambridge after a jury heard she carried out the deception using a blindfold, sex toy and a “wholly fake persona”. Silvano and her victim even became engaged as a man and woman.

On Tuesday a jury at Caernarfon crown court in north Wales found her guilty of six counts of sexual assault by penetration between November 2022 and the following June after being told she carried out the same sort of deception on another woman.

Using the alias “Hunter”, Silvano began messaging the victim on the Plenty of Fish site before meeting her for sex, always keeping the lights very low and not allowing herself to be touched intimately.

Silvano claimed to be a captain and surgeon in the army and on one occasion claimed “his” condom had broken as they had sex. Silvano assured the alleged victim it was “very unlikely” she would get pregnant and told her: “Trust me, I’m a doctor.”

The jury was told the woman noticed her partner sounded a “little feminine” and began to have doubts about their “odd” sex life.

Eventually, the victim received a call from Silvano’s long-term woman partner who said the person she’d known as “Hunter” was female, the court heard.

The victim told police she felt sick when she learned of the deception, saying: “I thought it was some sort of joke.” In court she said: “I believed I was in a relationship with a straight, heterosexual man. I would never go out with a woman.”

Philip Clemo, prosecuting, told the jury Silvano was a gifted con artist and suggested she was inspired by the myth of Zeus turning into a bull.

The Cambridgeshire offences took place in 2016 and 2017. Using the fake name Blade Mendez, Silvano presented herself as a male army veteran throughout a two-year relationship.

She would send the victim photos of herself apparently shaving her face and would pretend to urinate standing up.

Silvano, of Shropshire, would not allow the victim to touch her genitals, claiming to be “body conscious due to injuries sustained in the army”. Silvano and the woman got engaged and she was encouraged to try on wedding dresses and book a registrar.

The victim accidentally uncovered Silvano’s deception after coming across her on Facebook in September 2018 “in a completely different living situation”. Silvano was found guilty of two counts of assault by penetration.

Silvano will be sentenced for the six sexual assaults next month. Judge Jones ordered a pre-sentence report so that the risk she posed could be assessed.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html