Transgender Rapist Jailed in the UK for 8 Years

Isla Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham, raped two women in Scotland before deciding to identify as a female

Isla Bryson, 31, formerly known as Adam Graham, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, arrives at the High Court in Glasgow, on Jan. 23, 2023. PA Media

A transgender sex offender who raped two women before deciding to identify as a female, has been jailed for eight years.

Isla Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham, will spend a further a further three years on licence, Edinburgh High Court heard on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old was convicted last month of two separate sex attacks in Scotland, one in Clydebank in 2016 and the other in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019.

During sentencing on Tuesday, judge Lord Scott noted Bryson continues to “vehemently deny” the offences, claiming the victims “colluded” to press charges.

The court heard the rapist, who appeared in court wearing a blond wig and dressed in black leggings and a fluorescent pink jacket, is still pursuing full gender reassignment and is currently on “the maximum recommended doses of hormone prescription” from the Sandyford clinic.

Defence advocate Edward Targowski, KC, said this, coupled with “troubled early years,” makes his client vulnerable.

He told the court Bryson’s move to transition following both rapes was not “an afterthought cynically designed to reduce the punishment,” contrary to what he described as “ill-informed and ill-judged comments” made outside of the court.

However, Lord Scott said the seriousness of the crimes “far outweigh” Bryson’s mitigating circumstances.

He acknowledged Bryson is considered “vulnerable in some ways” owing to adverse childhood experiences, but said: “You see yourself as the victim in this situation. You are not.”

“Your vulnerability is no excuse at all for what you did to these two women,” Scott said.

“You raped two women who can both be regarded as vulnerable.”

Preyed on Victims

Prosecutors said Bryson, from Clydebank, met both the victims online and “preyed” on vulnerable women.

The case sparked uproar after the convicted rapist was initially housed in an all-female prison before being moved to the male estate.

Scottish Justice Secretary Keith Brown ordered an urgent review of the case and the Scottish Prison Service took the decision to halt the movement of all transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into the female estate.

Bryson first appeared in court as Adam Graham in 2019 and was later named in court papers the following year—around the time of the decision to transition—as Isla Annie Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham.

During the trial, the High Court in Glasgow heard Bryson was going through the breakdown of a brief, unhappy marriage and went to stay with the first victim at her mother’s house in Clydebank in 2016.

Giving evidence on pre-recorded video, the victim, 30, said she was raped for half an hour.

“All I said was ‘no’ over and over and over again,” she said.

“At the time I was so scared. Sick to the stomach. I just didn’t know what was going on.”

A photo of signage outside the entrance to Scotland's only female prison Cornton Vale on Jan. 26, 2015. The prison is reportedly housing a number of trans prisoners. PA Media

The second victim, who gave evidence via live video-link, told the court Bryson continued to have sex with her after she said to stop.

The court heard Bryson entered the victim with “her penis,” and was told to stop because Bryson was “crushing” the victim.

The victim told the court: “I said to stop but he [Bryson] just kept on going, and that’s when I just closed my eyes and I am doing what he wanted to do.”

Giving evidence during the trial, Bryson claimed both women consented to having sex.

On Tuesday, Lord Scott said Bryson was, in fact, “preying on these two women because of their vulnerability and raped them in their own homes where they were entitled to feel safe.”

High Risk

Addressing Bryson, the senior judge added, “You are not at the stage of accepting what you did or acknowledging the serious harm you inflicted on two women.”

He said the rapist was at “a high risk of reoffending,” adding, “There will need to be a high level of supervision.”

As well as the sentence, which was backdated to Jan. 24, and extended supervision, Bryson has also been placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

Bryson told during the trial of identifying as transgender at the age of 4 but not making the decision to transition until age 29.

Bryson’s mother later disputed the claims, telling the Sunday Mail that the 31-year-old never mentioned wanting to be a girl as a child.

“I don’t know why it took him until he was 29 to say he wanted to become a woman,” Janet Bryson told the newspaper earlier this month.

“But I understand why some people think it’s just a way of getting out of going to a male prison.

“My son never expressed any wish to me that he wanted to be a girl, dressed in any other way, or ever asked to be called by any other name than Adam growing up. Never once, at the age of 4 or at any other age.

“I would understand it more if this had been something he had been doing for years but that’s just not the case.”

Backed Down

Bryson’s case caused major controversy over the issue of housing transgender criminals in female prisons.

After being convicted, he was initially sent to a segregation unit at an all-female prison at Cornton Vale prison in Stirling.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon came under pressure from campaigners, MPs, and Downing Street after they expressed concerns that the transgender rapist was set to be sent to a female jail to await sentencing.

Sturgeon—who abruptly resigned earlier this month—eventually backed down and confirmed that Bryson would not be held in a women’s prison.

The row further escalated after it was reported that another transgender criminal’s request to move to a female jail had been rubber-stamped.

Andrew Burns, who now uses the name “Tiffany Scott,” reportedly requested a transfer to a women’s prison.

The Daily Record reported in January that this request had been approved despite Burns having a history of violence and serving an order for lifelong restriction, meaning the prisoner will only be released when no longer considered an “unmanageable risk to public safety.”

The opposition Scottish Conservatives said Burns had attacked female staff while in a men’s prison and it is “absolutely appalling” that “such a violent and dangerous criminal is set to be transferred to a women’s prison.”

Following the backlash, Scotland’s Justice Secretary Keith Brown announced an “urgent review” of the management of transgender inmates.

He said that no transgender prisoner with a history of violence against women will be placed in the women’s prison estate until the review is completed.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media during her visit to Buchanan Street Residential Children's Home in Coatbridge, Scotland, on Oct. 24, 2022. Andrew Milligan/PA Media

Gender Recognition

Scotland became the UK’s first country to back a self-ID process for legally changing gender when it passed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in December.

The bill, proposed by the ruling coalition of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish Greens, would allow individuals to change their gender identity by simply making a statutory declaration.

The age people can apply to the gender recognition process would be reduced from 18 to 16.

Furthermore, the time period applicants need to live in the acquired gender would be reduced from two years to three months, with the requirement for a medical diagnosis and evidence removed.

There would be no requirement under the bill for an applicant to undergo surgery or hormone therapy and it would also simplify the process to change the official sex on birth certificates.

The legislation failed to become law after the UK government blocked the bill in its current form over concerns that it had “safety issues for women and children.” It was the first time since devolution was introduced in 1998 that the UK government had made such a move.

Open to Exploitation

Following Bryson’s sentencing, Scottish Conservative shadow community safety minister Russell Findlay said: “In reality, an eight-year prison sentence means this double rapist could be back on the streets in as little as four years, which will likely be of little comfort to victims.

“They’ve already suffered from the perverse decision to address this rapist as ‘she’ and by Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary refusing to say what everyone in Scotland can see with their own eyes—that Bryson is a man.

“Even following Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden resignation, the SNP Government continues to attempt to dupe the public by saying this case has nothing to do with its gender self-ID bill.

“But if this SNP law is enacted, it will be wide open to exploitation by giving the legal right to sex offenders to declare they are female, no matter the risks to women and girls.

“Going forward, the prison service must publish its delayed new policy on transgender prisoners, allowing for full scrutiny, feedback and, if necessary, amendment.”

Just this week, the UK government extended the scope of its rules banning some transgender criminals from female prisons in England and Wales.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab announced in October that trans women who have male genitalia or have committed sexual offences will not be held in women’s prisons.

On Sunday he confirmed that the measures will come into force on Feb. 27.

He also said that he has updated the policy to include transgender women convicted of violent offences as part of the ban.

PA Media contributed to this report.