Four killers in hate crime row after trans murderer ‘misgendered’

Four killers housed in the female wing of a Scottish jail have become embroiled in a “misgendering” row which led to one being accused of a transphobic hate crime, a court has heard.

Alexandria Stewart, a transgender woman in HMP Greenock previously known as Alan Baker, claims fellow inmate Jane Sutherley carried out a four-year campaign, between Jan 1 2019 and March 23 2023 of verbal abuse that left them feeling suicidal.

The allegations led to Sutherley being charged with behaving in a “threatening and abusive manner”, with the alleged offence aggravated by “transgender prejudice”. She denies the charge.

Stewart, 36, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 19 years in jail for the murder of a father-of-two, told Greenock Sheriff Court that Sutherley would insist on using “he and him pronouns”.

Sutherley, a hair stylist, is serving a sentence for culpable homicide after being convicted in 2020 of fatally stabbing a man through the heart with her hairdressing scissors.

The court heard that Sutherley, 51, would refer to Stewart and her partner, Nyomi Fee, a notorious child killer serving a life sentence for murder, as “the tranny and the beast” or “the tranny and the dyke”.

The court heard the couple have been together since around 2018.

Stewart detailed several occasions where it is alleged that Sutherley insisted on using male pronouns to describe her fellow prisoner or would call her “thingmy”.

The court heard that during a karaoke evening for prisoners, Sutherley told Stewart she might sing Shania Twain’s 1997 hit Man! I Feel Like a Woman.

The pair, along with Fee, took part in art classes. During a session attended by Gerard Burns, the renowned Scottish painter, Sutherley is alleged to have referred to Stewart’s work as: “The tranny show”.

During a visiting hour at the prison, Sutherley is also accused of referring to Stewart as a man.

Stewart told the court: “I was highly mortified that she had outed me as trans to those who didn’t know I was trans.”

Asked how the situation had made her feel, Stewart said: “My first thought was ‘Do I just commit suicide?’”

Stewart added: “I have disassociated myself from people. I don’t trust people any more. My anxiety went through the roof and I am on various medications to keep myself going.”

Paul Lynch, Sutherley’s defence solicitor, suggested to Stewart that the allegations were formed as a ploy to ensure they were not moved to the male estate.

In 2023, the Scottish Government issued a Rule 95 order that decreed all transgender prisoners should be subject to enhanced safeguarding checks.

This followed a scandal over transgender rapist Isla Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham, being initially sent to HMP Cornton Vale, Scotland’s only all-female jail.

Mr Lynch suggested Stewart would have been aware of the case and that she, Fee and fellow prisoner Lynette Greenop made false allegations of transphobia to keep Stewart in the female wing of HMP Greenock.

Stewart denied this was the case.

Mr Lynch asked Stewart if she had undergone any surgery as part of her transition to identifying as a woman.

Stewart said she had undergone a tracheal shave in 2019 to reduce the prominence of the Adam’s apple but had otherwise had no gender surgery.

Mr Lynch asked: “So if a person held a legitimate belief that you were biologically male, that would be correct?”

Stewart replied: “I am not here to debate transgender identity.”

My Lynch said: “I’m simply asking you to confirm a biological fact.”

My Lynch also asked about a situation whereby Stewart and Fee would use a top flat in their unit to spend time alone together while sending other prisoners away to give them privacy. Stewart denied this was the case.

The court also heard from Greenop, who is serving a sentence for murder. Greenop, 46, was asked about her close friendship with Stewart and Fee.

She said she had heard Sutherley “refuse to use Alex’s prefixes as a lady” and added:  “tranny is a word that I despise”.

The trial, before Sheriff Millar, continues.