Furious campaigners slam ‘disgusting’ decision to send transgender rapist to all-female prison

Furious activists have criticized the ‘disgusting’ decision to send a transgender rapist who attacked two women while living as a man to a women-only prison.

Isla Bryson was an Adam Graham with a shaved head and a Mike Tyson-esque facial tattoo when they carried out the violent sexual assaults in 2016 and 2019 after abusing victims they originally met online.

Bryson, who claimed to have had gender issues since the age of four, began transitioning from male to female in 2020 after being accused of the rapes. The shooter denied the accusations and told the jury that any sex was consensual, although Bryson insisted that he did not like sleeping with women and that they made the “first move”.

There was no reference to the 31-year-old man having a gender recognition certificate during the trial.

Bryson was found guilty of the two violations yesterday. It is understood that she is being held in a segregation unit at Cornton Vale Women’s Prison, where the risk of the attacker will be assessed prior to sentencing to see where she will serve her sentence.

Campaigners have criticized the move following controversy over Nicola Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) (GRR) Bill, which would allow anyone over the age of 16 to “self-identify” as the opposite sex without having to of a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Bryson pictured outside Glasgow High Court. She today she was sentenced for two rapes

Susan Smith, from campaign group For Women Scotland, said it was “disgusting” that Bryson is being held in Cornton Vale.

She said: ‘The risk assessment must be perfectly clear.’

She insisted that Bryson was a danger to women and “shouldn’t be anywhere near the kind of vulnerable women who are in prison.”

Miss Smith added: “Some of our MSPs must have led incredibly sheltered lives if they thought predatory and abusive men wouldn’t try everything they could to further harm victims and seek easier access to potential future victims.”

The Scottish government said: “Decisions made by the Scottish Prison Service on the placement of transgender prisoners are based on protecting both the welfare and rights of the individual and those around them.”

Bryson was found guilty of the two violations yesterday. The defendant denied the charges, saying as evidence that he would “never hurt another human being.”

Her defense, KC Edward Targowski, even told the Glasgow High Court: “If you accept that evidence, that she is transitioning, that she intends to continue on that path to becoming female, that will go a long way toward clearing her of these charges. “. .

Bryson will be held in a segregation unit at the women’s prison for up to a month while risk assessments are conducted before she is sentenced.

Officials will decide if you should serve your sentence in a women’s or men’s prison.

Isla Bryson, 31, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, arrives at Glasgow High Court yesterday. Following a six-day trial in High Court, a jury found the transgender woman guilty of raping two women when she was a ma

Scottish Conservative shadow community security minister Russell Findlay said yesterday: “This rapist decided he was no longer a man alone after appearing in court on a rape charge.”

Now we have the absolutely perverse situation where a Scottish court refers to someone claiming to identify as a woman using “his penis” to rape two vulnerable women.

“We warn of the inevitability of this happening if the SNP’s gender self-identification law is passed, but that it has come to pass is deeply concerning and an affront to the victims.”

The first victim recalled repeatedly saying ‘no’ when her ‘muscular’ attacker raped her when the then-man climbed into bed next to her in 2016. The second woman was raped in a flat while planning to watch the movie Mean Girls in 2019. . .

Bryson first appeared on the bench in July 2019 as Adam Graham. At the start of her six-day trial, the defendant was known as Isla Bryson. Bryson is currently taking hormones and seeking surgery to complete the gender reassignment.

In December, around 60 protesters gathered on the outskirts of Cornton Vale when trans pedophile Katie Dolatowski was sent there. It came amid ongoing controversy over Nicola Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) (GRR) Bill, which would allow anyone over the age of 16 to “self-identify” as the opposite sex without the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Bryson Island, formerly known as Adam Graham and was born male. He began the transition in 2020, at the age of 29.

On Monday, Rishi Sunak blocked Ms Sturgeon’s controversial gender reforms after being given clear legal notice that they would undermine women’s rights in the UK.

Scottish law would allow people to apply for a gender recognition certificate after living in their new gender for just three months and without the need for medical evidence.

Campaigners warned that it could allow biological men access to women-only spaces such as changing rooms, prisons and battered women’s shelters, which would undermine current protections in the Equality Act, which covers England and Wales as well as Scotland.

The gender bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament last month, with the backing of Labor and the Liberal Democrats, as well as the ruling SNP.

Today, Bryson Island appears to be headed for an all-female jail.

Conservative MP Miriam Cates told MailOnline: “It is almost impossible to believe that in a civilized society a man convicted of raping two women could be held in a women’s prison.”

At trial, the defendant was known as Isla Bryson and jurors said that Adam Graham was now her “dead name,” one “that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transition.”

Bryson told his trial that he received hormone treatment and expects more, adding: “Obviously I want all the surgery the NHS can provide.”

The defendant had attacked the first victim in a flat in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, having met on the Badoo dating site when he was known as Adam.

This was immediately after Bryson’s marriage to a woman ended.

In his testimony, Bryson claimed that he had indeed used the 30-year-old woman as a place to stay.

But, the victim recounted how she had been ‘madly in love’ with Adam. However, she soon suffered as Adam went from “worrying” to raging over trivial matters.

The rape occurred on September 16, 2016 after Bryson locked the door and climbed into bed next to her.

In pre-recorded testimony played to the jury, the victim said, “I thought Adam had come for a hug, and at that point, everything just felt weird and wrong.”

I didn’t know what was happening.

The woman recalled repeatedly saying ‘no’ when a ‘muscular’ Adam forced her to.

The ordeal only ended when the victim’s mother turned on a light in the hallway.

The second woman was raped in an apartment in Drumchapel, Glasgow, on June 27, 2019.

Bryson told jurors how he had shared his “sexuality issues” with the 34-year-old woman he met on the Bigo social networking site.

She was convicted of rape in Glasgow High Court (pictured)

The court heard that the couple were together in the apartment planning to see the movie Mean Girls.

The victim recalled feeling ‘crushed’ when the attacker she knew as Adam forced her.

She said: ‘I told him to stop and he didn’t. She kept going. That’s when I closed my eyes and let him do what he wanted to do.

In her own statement, Bryson, who said she was “scared” on the witness stand, often got emotional when refuting the charges.

Bryson said: ‘I would never do that. He would never hurt any woman.

Bryson admitted to ‘cheating’ the first victim, adding: ‘She loved me. She kills me because I hurt her like that.

Regarding the sexual contact with the second woman, Bryson told the jury: “I didn’t make the first move. I can assure you.’

Bryson’s attorney had also questioned her today about her gender issues. Bryson said he first realized this when he was four years old.

Bryson told the jury, “I was always hanging out with the girls and I was always doing my makeup.”

Bryson said she first made the decision about “transitioning” from a man to a woman in 2020 after she first appeared to face the rape charge.

Bryson has received hormone treatment and is expecting more. When asked about the surgery, the defendant said: “Obviously I want all the surgery the NHS can provide.”

After the verdict, prosecutor John Keenan KC said the first attack of rape had been reported to authorities in 2016, but there were no further “proceedings at that stage”.

Lord Scott adjourned Bryson’s sentencing to 28 February at Stirling.

Bryson already had three summary-level convictions, not for sexual matters, and had never been to jail before.

But the judge told her: ‘You have been convicted of two extremely serious charges.

‘Given what he has been convicted of, a significant prison sentence is inevitable.

I’ll revoke the bond and keep you in custody in the meantime.

Bryson had shown up most days with a large suitcase. The media and the public had to watch the proceedings from a viewing room elsewhere in the court building.

An earlier trial was dropped because Bryson reported that he was unwell after his photo was taken as the defendant arrived at court.

It is understood that Bryson will be held in the segregation unit at Cornton Vale Prison for Women in Stirlingshire.

This is a unit where inmates may be held for their own safety or the safety of other inmates.

Subsequent transfer to the general population, along with other women, is possible pending risk assessment.

Prisoners can be held in segregation for years, but must be kept under regular review to comply with human rights laws.