Transgender stalker who treatened to ‘batter’ surgeon will serve sentence in ladies’s jail | UK | News | EUROtoday

Women’s rights campaigners are livid after a harmful trans prisoner who threatened to “batter” a feminine surgeon was moved to a ladies’s jail. Vivienne Taylor, 28, who was born a person, was sentenced to 14 months in jail after pleading responsible to stalking, inflicting severe alarm or misery, to Tina Rashid.

The stalking marketing campaign stretched throughout 4 years and affected Ms Rashid’s work, household and social life. Ms Rashid, a senior advisor with a specialism in genital surgical procedure for trans ladies, turned so frightened of former affected person Taylor she carried a security alarm and paid £60-a-day for taxis to and from work.

Sentencing, Judge Giles Curtis-Raleigh, sitting at Isleworth Crown Court in West London earlier this month, took what he known as the “rare course” of imposing an “exceptional” restraining order with out restrict on Taylor ­contacting Ms Rashid. The stalking “fixation” culminated in a threatening message to Ms Rashid, suggesting Taylor was going to “batter” her and calling her “evil”, the court docket heard.

Judge Curtis-Raleigh mentioned the disturbing nature of Taylor’s crime had impacted Ms Rashid’s “work, family and every aspect of her life”. Taylor was initially held at male-only HM Wandsworth however has since been transferred to HM Downview, a ladies’s jail in Surrey.

It is known Taylor is being held on E wing, a separate part for biologically male inmates who determine as ladies. The choose famous Taylor was initially put in a male jail and mentioned this had been a “difficulty”.

Campaigner Fiona McAnena, of sex-based rights charity Sex Matters: “It’s appalling that Taylor, who stalked and threatened women with extreme violence, is being held at a women’s prison. The prison service knows Taylor is a risk because it claims that prisoners on E wing, the section for men who claim to be women, are kept ­separate from women.

“But E wing was put on the women’s estate and not the men’s estate so trans-­identifying men can have access to women’s facilities and even mix with female prisoners.

“Many women in prison have experienced male violence. Some even say prison is the only place where they feel safe from men.

“Now the women in Downview are being used as props for the affirmation of men ­living out a fetishistic fantasy of womanhood. If this man is being kept away from the women for their safety, he should not be at Downview at all.”

Claire Coutinho, Shadow Minister for Equalities, mentioned: “Under no ­circumstances should a male be placed in a women’s prison. Bridget Phillipson [Minister for Women and Equalities] needs to stop her dithering and delay, and finally publish the new EHRC guidance to ensure vulnerable women are properly protected.”

Feminist campaigner, writer and journalist Julie Bindel was in court docket when Taylor – carrying a child pink jacket and full make-up – was sentenced. She mentioned: “In one swoop they are saying these men can’t be in men’s prisons because they are not safe but then we’ll just put them in the women’s prisons, because they think women will be nice to them. It’s just bull****. He’s a dangerous man.

“Why is he not in a wing where he can be watched in a men’s prison?”

During sentencing, the court docket heard Taylor has suffered psychological well being breakdowns and home abuse previously.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson confirmed Taylor was on the web site on E Wing. They added: “There is a separate unit for transgender prisoners at HMP Downview isolated from the main female population.” The MoJ confirmed E Wing inmates “in some circumstances may join supervised activities” with the broader feminine jail inhabitants.