Trans rapist ‘assaulted four women’ in jail

A TRANSGENDER prisoner charged with raping a woman was remanded to a female prison where she indecently assaulted four inmates, a court heard.

Karen White, 52, was sent to the jail despite the fact that she was a convicted sex offender and paedophile.

All her previous offences had been committed when she was a man – and White had not had gender reassignment surgery when sent to women-only New Hall Prison near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where the sex assaults took place.

The case could lead to a review of the rules for dealing with transgender inmates in the prison system.

Yesterday, White pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to the historic rape of a woman in August 2003, when she was called Stephen Wood.

Last month, at the same court, she admitted two counts of raping another woman between February and December 2016. It was for these offences that White was remanded in custody to New Hall.

White admitted sex assaults on two inmates at New Hall but denied sexually assaulting two others, all between September and November last year.

She was transferred to HM Prison Leeds, a category B men’s prison, after the attacks. The assaults she denied have been left to lie on file, as has a rape allegation against the 2016 victim and a charge of controlling behaviour against her.

White had been living as a man called David Thompson before she began to identify as a woman.

She became Karen White and lived near Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire. She was in transition when she committed the latest rape.

White is also awaiting sentence for stabbing a neighbour.

Yesterday, she appeared in the dock with her auburn hair in a ponytail, wearing glasses and walking with a stick.

Judge Christopher Batty adjourned sentencing until October 11, telling White: ‘I’m going to have you assessed to see whether you are a danger.’

When White appeared before a district judge at Leeds Magistrates’ Court in July, she claimed she had not sexually assaulted the inmates because she is not attracted to women and has erectile dysfunction.

The court heard the first assault involved White exposing herself.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said: ‘We apologise sincerely for the mistakes which were made in this case.

‘While we work to manage all prisoners, including those who are transgender, sensitively and in line with the law, we are clear that the safety of all prisoners must be our absolute priority.’