Domestic abuser was allowed in to women’s refuge after transitioning
AN ex-prisoner convicted of domestic abuse against the mother of his child was granted access to a women’s refuge after identifying as female. Mark Addis, 44, sent messages threatening to kill his former partner and spent six months in jail before being convicted of harassment.
But after being released, Addis began identifying as a woman called Melissa. When she became homeless, Addis was referred to St Mungo’s and began living in a hostel for lesbian, gay and transgender people.
The homeless charity, which operates 27 shelters across London and the South of England, granted her ‘almost daily’ access to its East London Women’s Project for female victims of domestic abuse so she could visit her support worker, because it housed an administration office. She was also allowed to attend social functions at the refuge – despite St Mungo’s having knowledge of her conviction, according to The Mail on Sunday.
Addis had been arrested in November 2013 for a campaign of harassment against her former partner and then spent six months in a male prison before her case was heard.
At Snaresbrook Crown Court in 2014 she pleaded guilty to ‘putting a person in fear of violence by harassment’ and was sentenced to an 18-month supervision order, 40 days on a domestic abuse programme and given a restraining order to stay away from her victim.
Addis confirmed that she was granted access to the refuge, adding: ‘I could have lived at the women’s hostel myself if I had asked the lady in charge. They would have allowed me because I live as a female now.’
Feminist writer and domestic violence campaigner Julie Bindel, who helped reveal Addis’s access to the women’s refuge, said: ‘Trans people should have their own facilities and own safe houses, just like female domestic violence victims.’
She accused charities of bowing to pressure from trans lobbies to accept trans women.
A St Mungo’s spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individual client circumstances. Safety is fundamental to our organisation. We have safeguarding policies and procedures in place to ensure clients, staff and volunteers are safe and respected, and we take action in line with those policies as necessary.’