TRANS rapist Isla Bryson has been told that "vulnerability is no excuse at all" for attacks on two victims after being jailed for eight years today.
At the High Court in Edinburgh this morning (Tuesday, February 28), Bryson was sentenced following conviction in January for raping two women - one in Clydebank in 2016, and one in Drumchapel in 2019 - while still a man known as Adam Graham.
The 31-year-old was handed an eight-year prison sentence, with a further three years on licence.
Lord Scott, who passed sentence, said Bryson "presents a high risk of reconviction of sexual offending" and "only a custodial sentence was appropriate" to protect the public.
Reports prepared for today's hearing stated that Bryson "vehemently" denies committing either of the offences.
Lord Scott said: "You have constructed an alternative account of events which was rejected by the jury.
"I will therefore ignore it.
"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 in 2016 and 2019."
Following the conviction last month it was revealed that Bryson had spent three months as a student at Ayrshire College's Kilwinning campus in 2021, while awaiting trial.
It also emerged that Bryson had attempted to sign up to self-defence classes at the Scottish Centre for Personal Safety in Ardrossan, for victims of sexual assault, but had failed screening checks.
Bryson met both the victims online, with prosecutors saying the 31-year-old “preyed” on vulnerable women.
The case sparked an uproar after Bryson was initially housed in an all-female prison before being moved to the male estate following the outcry.
Scotland’s Justice Secretary Keith Brown ordered an urgent review of the case and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) took the decision to halt the movement of all transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into the female estate.
Lord Scott said: "The criminal justice social work report states that there would need to be a significantly high level of supervision and monitoring of you in the community to ensure that the risk you pose to others is reduced.
"It also explains that there ‘would need to be a level of acceptance to allow any intervention to be successful’.
"You are not yet at the stage of accepting what you did or acknowledging responsibility for the serious harm you have inflicted on two vulnerable women."
He added: "It is necessary to punish you and to seek to deter you and others from behaving in this way and in particular to protect the public from you.
"Having considered the pattern of offending, the gravity of your crimes and the insights in the various reports, I consider that the question of how best to protect the public arises.
"I am concerned to ensure that the public is adequately protected against serious harm from you when you are released from prison.
"It is plain that you present a particularly significant risk to any woman with whom you form a relationship."
Bryson - who is currently taking hormones and seeking surgery to complete gender reassignment - will also be subject to notification requirements indefinitely.
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