The Times- Police criticised for calling trans woman ‘a person convicted of rape’
Police criticised for calling trans woman ‘a person convicted of rape’
Lexi Secker was found guilty on Friday of a rape committed in 2021 when a pre-surgery man, but Wiltshire police used the terms ‘person’ and ‘she’ in a statement
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The Times
Secker was living as a man at the time of the attack on the woman after a night out on April 23, 2021 in Blunsdon, Wiltshire
ALAMY
Police have been criticised for describing a transgender woman who attacked a woman after a night out as a “person convicted of rape”.
Lexi Secker, 35, of Lowbourne, near Melksham, was found guilty of rape on Friday after a four-day trial at Swindon Crown Court.
Secker was living as a man at the time of the attack on the woman after a night out on April 23, 2021 in Blunsdon, Wiltshire. The offence was recorded by police as being committed by a male.
Last week, however, the court tried Secker as a woman, while Wiltshire police referred to Secker as both a “person” and “she” in a statement recording the verdict titled, “Melksham person found guilty of rape”.
The force refused to comment further on Secker’s case.
Detective Constable Corrina Wiltshire of Wiltshire Police, thanked the victim for being “inspirational in the way they have handled things” throughout the judicial process.
She said: “This case has taken a long time to get to this point but I’m pleased to say, the victim has trusted the police throughout and stayed with this despite the hurdles.”
Campaigners, however, have criticised Wiltshire police for the language used in their press release.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns for the charity Sex Matters, told the Daily Mail: “This person is a man. Why don’t the police say so? Do they think they have to pretend, because he now says he’s a woman, even though he has committed the ultimate male crime of rape?
“It is very concerning to see the police pandering to the feelings of trans-identifying males. It does not give confidence that they are policing without fear or favour.”
Heather Binning, the co-founder of the Women’s Rights Network, similarly called for Secker to be sentenced in the male estate.
Secker was remanded in custody at an unknown location and is due to be sentenced on September 27.
Since February last year, measures have prevented transgender women offenders from being housed in women’s prisons if they have male genitalia or have committed sexual or violent crimes.
Dominic Raab, the then justice secretary, said of the rule change: “Safety has to come first in our prisons and this new policy sets out a clear, common-sense approach to the housing of transgender prisoners.”
The case of Isla Bryson, a 32-year-old transgender woman from Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, convicted of raping two women, caused political uproar in Scotland last year.
Bryson, who started transitioning in 2020 after being charged in 2019, was initially remanded to Cornton Vale, a women’s prison near Stirling, to await sentencing.
After a risk assessment Bryson was subsequently transferred to a male prison but the controversy prompted the Scottish Prison Service to launch an “urgent review” into the transgender cases within its prisons.
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