Judge blasts prison system ‘shambles’ after having to postpone sentencing of female cafe boss who tricked woman she met on Plenty of Fish into having sex with her by pretending to be a man

• Blade Silvano pretended to be a man so she could sleep with another woman
• The 41-year-old was convicted in May of two counts of assault by penetration

An eminent judge launched an extraordinary tirade branding the prison system a ‘shambles’ after he was forced to postpone sentencing a sex attacker for the fifth time.

Judge Philip Grey lambasted the private contractors Serco used to bring prisoners to court after they failed to load the defendant onto a van.

Judge Grey said he was ‘almost speechless’ upon learning that he would have to push the case back again.

Blade Silvano, 41, was convicted seven months ago of pretending to be a man so she could sleep with another woman.

Silvano tricked her victim into a relationship after they met on the online dating site Plenty of Fish. She then sexually assaulted her twice with an ‘unknown implement’.

Blade Silvano, pictured outside Cambridge Crown Court in May this year, was convicted seven months ago of pretending to be a man so she could sleep with another woman

Judge Grey was due to sentence her at Cambridge Crown Court today but she was not produced from HMP Peterborough.

The court heard Silvano is in a wheelchair but the van used to bring prisoners to court did not have disabled access, despite staff at the prison knowing for several weeks about her condition.

The case so far has been pushed back owing to Silvano’s nonattendance at court, missing medical records and the absence of a pre-sentence report.

Judge Grey’s condemnation of Serco comes in a week which saw the crown court backlog rocket to a record high.

Blade Silvano, pictured in a Market Times article from 2016, was found guilty of assault by penetration

Judge Grey said: ‘The person who has been most disadvantaged today is the complainant. She has been badly let down by the system.

‘Quite frankly I am almost speechless. Miss Silvano should be here, and I am afraid to say it is the repeated experience of this court and crown courts up and down the country that the system for transporting prisoners to court from prison is a complete shambles. 

‘Miss Silvano has been in a wheelchair for weeks and the transport company used to bring prisoners to court has not provided the right transport.

‘If the public knew of the amount of time and money thrown away while we wait for for someone to be produced late, again and again, they would be outraged.

Silvano tricked her victim into a relationship after they met on the Plenty of Fish website

‘I will make contact with HMP Peterborough behind the scenes in terms of expressing the importance of Miss Silvano being brought to court with the appropriate transport.’

Silvano – who previously ran a cafe in Welshpool, Powys – was convicted in May of two counts of assault by penetration.

Jurors heard she had sex with her victim between December 2016 and February 2017.

It was reported this week there are roughly 66,500 outstanding crown court cases for April to June alone.

The sentencing of Silvano will happen on Thursday next week.

Serco were approached for comment.

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