The Times- Rapist, Karen White, in women’s jail ‘was trans faker’


Rapist, Karen White, in women’s jail ‘was trans faker’

Karen White, formerly known as David Thompson and Stephen Wood, admitted to a series of rape charges
Karen White, formerly known as David Thompson and Stephen Wood, admitted to a series of rape charges
ENTERPRISE NEWS
Lucy Bannerman, Mark Lister
The Times

The original article is here 
A rapist and paedophile who was transferred to a women’s prison after claiming to be female and assaulted four inmates there made no more effort to be a woman than wearing wigs and dresses, former neighbours say.

Karen White, 52, a former drag artist from Manchester previously known as Stephen Wood, then David Thompson, claimed to be transgender to the authorities. Despite knowing that White had undergone no physical changes and was a paedophile on remand for multiple rapes with a long record of sexual and violent offences against women, the authorities permitted a transfer to HMP New Hall, a prison near Wakefield with a mother-and-baby unit. White committed the assaults within days of the move and was transferred back to a men’s prison.

The government is holding consultations on proposals to allow people to “self-declare” their legal gender. Campaigners fear that opportunists will exploit the changes to gain access to protected female spaces.

Neighbours at Elphin Court in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, including a transgender woman, recalled how White made little effort to transition. “David just walked into his flat one day as David and walked out the next day as Karen,” she said. When an elderly man used the pronoun “he”, White called the police to report it as a hate crime.

The neighbours said that White “ruled Elphin Court with fear”, threatening an elderly disabled woman and setting off fire alarms, and had been found guilty of stabbing a resident.

The transgender neighbour said: “Other than wear a wig and put on women’s clothing, she has made no more effort.” She said that White was referred to a gender-identity clinic in Sheffield but failed to attend three appointments. “I believe Karen is not a transgender, I believe she is more transvestite than transsexual with no real desire to be a woman,” she said.

Details of the decision to place a convicted sex attacker in a women’s prison were made public only last week after White pleaded guilty to the rape of a woman in 2003. Leeds magistrates’ court was told that White had been jailed for 18 months after being convicted in 2001 of two offences of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child. White is now in HMP Armley in Leeds, awaiting sentencing for crimes including the prison assaults and stabbing.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told The Sunday Times that prison managers were having to make decisions on prisoners claiming to be transgender “in a toxic political environment”. She said: “I am asking them to err on the side of caution because there is emerging evidence that certain men are jumping on the bandwagon to access and harm very vulnerable women in prison.”



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