Finally... Humza admits trans butcher who abused girl should be in men’s jail
A TRANSGENDER butcher who abducted and sexually assaulted a schoolgirl should never serve time in a women’s prison, the First Minister finally admitted yesterday.
Last week Andrew Miller, who also identifies as Amy George, confessed to dressing as a woman when he kidnapped a schoolgirl in February this year and subjected her to a horrifying ordeal while holding her captive in his home.
In the immediate aftermath of the court case, Humza Yousaf refused to say if the 53-year-old would serve his prison sentence in a men’s or women’s jail.
However, when questioned by The Scottish Mail on Sunday yesterday – three days after Miller admitted his vile crime – Mr Yousaf appeared to have clarified his position.
He said: ‘So Andrew Miller is being housed in the male estate. If he is sentenced I would not expect that to change.’
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is reviewing its policy on transgender inmates but the current position is that men who identify as women should not be held in a women’s prison if they have committed violent or sexual crimes against female victims.
Mr Yousaf signalled that he wanted the policy to be extended permanently. He said: ‘I think it’s a good policy, I think the policy is working well, there’s a conversation to have with SPS about whether or not we make it a permanent policy. I think the policy is working as it should and I would expect Andrew Miller, frankly, to stay in the male estate.’
The Scottish Mail on Sunday can also reveal that police tore apart Miller’s house in the Borders after it emerged he had used a concealed room, accessible via a wardrobe, to hold his young victim. A full ‘excavation’ of the site was ordered, down to its foundations. However, it is understood no items deemed of ‘relevance’ to any criminal inquiries were found.
Miller, who is transitioning to female but chose to be interviewed by police as a man, is awaiting sentence in HMP Edinburgh.
His case is the latest to spark controversy following that of Isla
Bryson, who is also in HMP Edinburgh after initially being remanded in Cornton Vale women’s prison after his conviction.
Bryson raped two women in Clydebank and Glasgow in 2016 and 2019 while known as Adam Graham before changing gender while waiting to stand trial.
The move sparked outrage and led to a review by the SPS. It has since introduced the interim policy preventing transgender prisoners with a history of violent or sexual offending towards women from going to a female prison.
At the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, Miller admitted charges of abduction, sexual assault, watching pornography in the presence of the child under the age of 13 and possessing more than 240 indecent images of children.
Last night campaigners demanded that male-born criminals should never be housed in the women’s estate. Professor of criminology at Reading University Jo Phoenix said: ‘No male-bodied people should be in a female prison.
‘The Scottish Prison Service are tone deaf to what’s going on. The fact they’re still reviewing the policy is a shocker to me.’
The SPS declined to comment on the future policy.