POLICE Scotland chiefs have been accused of “gaslighting” after U-turning on their policy in dealing with male rapists who self-ID as women.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell said those accused of serious sexual offences will be recorded as men, even if they declare as female.
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It is despite cops in 2021 having stated those accused of committing rape or attempted rape who self-ID as women would be “recorded as a female on relevant police systems”.
However, in an apparent backtracking on the policy, Ms Farrell told Sky News: “If the sex is relevant to the crime, and is pertinent to the crime, it will be investigated as that person being a man because you can only commit that crime as a man.”
Ms Farrell suggested that in the case of a different offence being committed, such as shoplifting, the sex of the offender would not be relevant.
But, she explained it would be in instances where violent crimes had been perpetrated against women.
She said: “If there’s relevance between that crime and your sex, then you will be recorded on the crime system as a man, and the public can be absolutely confident of that.”
Ms Farrell said that had always been the policy of the force, despite an FOI response from three years ago appearing to contradict that position.
Last year, we revealed how trans rapist Isla Bryson was convicted of attacking two women following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow, and in February 2023 was sentenced to eight years in prison.
A decision to remand Bryson in all-female prison Cornton Vale sparked an outcry, and they were later moved to HMP Edinburgh.
The attacks were committed while Bryson was living as Adam Graham, and was arrested and charged as a man – but transitioned while awaiting trial.
Bryson first appeared in court as Adam Graham in 2019, but in 2020 was named in court papers as Isla Annie Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham.
The FOI response, provided in 2021 to Dr Kath Murray from policy research firm Hunter, Blackburn, McKenzie, aimed to clarify the position of the force in relation to a query on a hypothetical situation where a crime had been committed by a man choosing to self-ID.
The police response said: “If the male who self-identifies as a woman were to attempt to, or to, penetrate the vagina, anus or mouth of a victim with their penis, Police Scotland would record this as attempted rape or rape and the male who self-identifies as a woman would be expected to be recorded as a female on relevant police systems.”
MSPs were also given a written assurance by Police Scotland that rapists will not be allowed to self-ID.
In a letter to Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee, deputy chief constable Alan Speirs said: “The committee should be absolutely assured that a man who commits rape or serious sexual assaults will be recorded as a male.
“There is no instance or record on police systems of a male having been arrested and charged with rape whose gender has been recorded as female. This has not happened.”
Mr Speirs went on to explain that cops obtain DNA samples from those accused of serious sexual assaults and that from that, the person’s biological sex will be determined.
The DNA profile is then kept on record and is made available to be searched against crime scene samples to aid historic and future investigations, he said.
Dr Lucy Hunter Blackburn, a former senior Scottish Government civil servant, said: “This is a major U-turn by Police Scotland. We welcome that Police Scotland has at last recognised that allowing sex offenders to self-identify their sex is indefensible.
“It is, however, an extraordinary act of institutional gaslighting to pretend that this is not a significant policy change from their position over almost five years.
She added: “We now need urgent reassurance that this major change has been written clearly into operational policies and communicated right across the service.
“We also need clarification about what sort of offenders Police Scotland still believes do not need their sex to be accurately recorded, and why.”
Susan Smith, from campaign group For Women Scotland, said: “We welcome this shift, although it is maddening that such a ridiculous situation ever arose.
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“Police Scotland needs to stop messing around with crucial crime stats to appease gender-addled criminals.
“They need to go back to reporting all offences by sex, for their own sanity and the protection of the public.”
