A thug who killed a grandmother in a fight over £5 and a cigarette as a teenager is now living as a trans man in a women-only jail.
Nicolle Earley became one of Scotland’s youngest murderers in 2008 when, aged 16, she killed 63-year-old Ann Gray in her home.
Earley, from Methil, Fife, was jailed for life in 2010 and ordered to serve a minimum of 14 years in prison.
The 32-year-old is now known to be living as a trans man called Kobi in Scotland’s women-only prison, HMP Stirling, where Earley is being held in the admissions ward, the Daily Record reports.
She brutally killed the grandmother after throwing her to the ground and repeatedly stamping on her head in Crosshill, Fife.
Nicolle Earley, who killed a grandmother in a fight over £5 and cigarettes as a teenager, now lives as a trans man in a women-only prison
The 32-year-old is understood to be living as a trans man called Kobi in Scotland’s all-women’s prison, HMP Stirling (pictured), where Earley is being held in the admissions ward.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has published its policy for the management of transgender people in custody in 2023
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has published its policy for the management of transgender people in custody in 2023.
The document states that transgender men held in women’s prisons who have been convicted of “any crime that perpetrates violence against a woman resulting in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to a woman,” such as murder, “may be kept separate from any other person in prison until the SPS has been able to assess their risk and vulnerability.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “We do not comment on individuals.”
Mrs Gray died as a result of a head injury after she was thrown to the ground and repeatedly stomped on.
The grandmother also suffered a broken jaw and a broken cheekbone, as well as a fractured bone in her upper neck.
In 2016, lawyers told Stirling Sheriff Court that memories of what she called “this incident” were damaging Earley’s mental health.
The convicted killer was brought before the court for sentencing after pleading guilty to throwing a plate of food at a fellow inmate at Cornton Vale women’s prison, near Stirling, and punching her.
Sheriff William Wood sentenced her to a further six months in prison and, although he ordered it to be served concurrently with her current sentence, warned that doing so could delay her eventual release.
He said: “This will no doubt have an effect on the Parole Board when they say you will be released.”
But Earley’s attorney, Danielle Varela, said her release date was currently set for 2025, but before she assaulted fellow inmate Pauline Sleeman, she was being “moved forward” for a parole hearing in 2021.
Miss Varela explained: ‘However, she was recently told that this is on hold while her mental health issues are sorted out.
“Since she has been in custody, there has been a deterioration. She has been having flashbacks of this incident from 2008.
‘There has been talk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but I’ve been told there is no diagnosis made at this stage.’
Earley became one of Scotland’s youngest female killers when, aged 16, she murdered 63-year-old Ann Gray at her home in 2008.
He added that his client had thrown the “regular-sized circular plastic plate” and then started punching her because her fellow inmate had been swearing at her.
Meanwhile, Adrian Fraser, prosecuting, said Earley was found punching the inmate on the mess floor by a pantry officer who heard a commotion.
He pushed her away and the other prisoner suffered a “red ear, due to the punches.” Earley pleaded guilty to assault.
Earley was given an additional 18-month sentence in 2013 after sending letters from his cell in Cornton Vale covered in blood and scrawled with swastikas, threatening to kill and cannibalise a local solicitor and send his face to a mask factory, adding that Sheriff Robertson “might join him”.
Some parts of the letters read: “Are you afraid that you will be tortured or that your relatives will be taken away? That is what will happen.”
“Are you a Hannibal fan? I’ll rip you apart and eat you.”
“If I wasn’t locked up, I would have taken you in the back of a pickup truck and I would have seen the guys attack you and I would have heard you scream.
“I’ll have your ear cut off and your tongue pulled out. I’ll take you home at night and leave you on your doorstep.”
He also praised serial killer Charles Manson and called Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik a “legend.”
In 2010, Gray’s family called Earley’s minimum 14-year prison sentence “a joke” and said she should have been sent behind bars for at least 30 years.
Speaking to the BBC after Earley’s sentencing, Gray’s daughter Anne-Marie McLeod said outside the court: “Fourteen years is nothing. It’s shocking, it really is.”
“I hope he never gets out. He doesn’t deserve it.
“There is no justice today.”
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